arts

From discovery to collection to connection

Gavin — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:20:59 +0000

Turning your Spotify playlist into a record collection, and why that could be really disruptive

Quick summary

I’ve long wanted to make it easy to buy the music of artists I like, not least because they get better £pay on physical, but when (not if) online services de-list things and hard drives break, they don’t vanish forever.

So, here’s a first experiment: pulling out one of my annual playlists into a ‘catalogue/shop window’ that links to various retailers, CD and Vinyl, and Bandcamp if that exists for the artist.

This is only 2025 for now, while I work out some of the bugs. https://dgen.net/w/playlists/2025.html

Update: now live at https://secondpress.club/p/5lx398

Some reflections (over the past three decades)

This is an example of shifting power dynamics in consumption, engagement and how we can help deliver open markets that work for everyone. I’ve also noticed that the music sector is often an early adopter/trailblazer for broader societal shifts.

Music streaming has solved discovery: a near-infinite library at your fingertips, finding new artists, forgotten classics and new connections has never been easier.

However, there’s an issue buried in that convenience: you don’t really ‘have’ any of it. If a label dispute pulls an album, or you cancel your subscription, your carefully curated listening history evaporates. This can also apply to your ‘downloads’ (even with good hard drives and cloud services, we still lose our digital stuff).

I’ve long thought about what it actually means to have a music collection. Back in the day (1998!) I put Virgin Megastores online: all 60,000 products (which is how may CDs were in a typical store), and designed a service with a colleague, Rick Glanville, where we could sell a subscription to digital downloads and give away a tiny MP3 player as part of the package. We even got Cambridge Electronics to make a little postage-stamp sized player. [yes, these pre-dated the iPod, iPod Shuffle and Spotify by many, many years].

While on that journey it struck me that we were in the process of reducing ‘music’ to a search box, killing most of the actual experience outside of listening, destroying record stores, and as humans we were likely to eventually push back on something so techno-reductionist.

Many of the things we enjoy about music listening are physical: this has played out in the long-term success of stores like Rough Trade, and the resurgence of vinyl (even cassettes are back!). At the time, as a bit of rebellion, I also released my own music as a 19kg solid granite MP3 player and radio transmitter.

In one of my many roles as CEO of Consolidated Independent, we helped get over 20% of the world’s music online: millions of tracks from thousands of labels distributed to hundreds of retailers and services. Some of the labels were terrified of the web destroying their business due to piracy, but the whole system had to embrace it, including sorting out commercial realities. Sadly some of those realities massively skewed market value to ‘the big guys’, including ludicrous statements from some (let’s say ‘commercial’) CEOs that if artists wanted more money they should increase their output (as if art and soup cans are the same thing ).

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact we have vast access to new music, and listen to a very diverse range of music. And, it creates different challenges for us as consumers and music fans. Now we can have more agency in balancing out the way the music market works – the cathedrals are not going anywhere, but the bazaar has some new spaces.

What we can now do

One of the things I missed when listening was album art, and a few years back I made a 12″ sized screen to pull down and display whatever I’m playing on Spotify (AI helped me code this, and I would never have got around to it without that help).

Building things just for me is fun, and…

Interestingly, with just a few AI prompts and some lightweight code, I created a tool that takes my Spotify playlist, cross-references every album against Discogs, and produced a personalised catalogue.

Based on the individual tracks I’d added to my annual playlist (which I have going back 8 years now), it looks up the album that it was on. It then works out which are available on CD and Vinyl (or digital–only), where to find them, and who sells them. And, not ‘just Amazon’, but others: Rough Trade, HMV and directly linking back to the artist’s Bandcamp. This is just the start of and idea, and took less than half a day to create it as a prototype.

This makes me wonder about a quiet promise of AI that doesn’t get talked about so much: enabling each of us to build the world we’d like. This will disrupt the big platforms (Spotify, Amazon, Apple) who have invested billions in making their aggregated experience frictionless and hard to leave. They’re using AI to make them more personalised and ‘sticky’. We can do the same for ourselves.

The same AI tools they’re racing to build are equally available to you and me. We can now spin up personalised services—in an afternoon—that would have taken a dedicated development team a decade ago.

So, this is a prototype of a custom, personalised catalogue and record-buying assistant that can be built around your taste, routing money to your preferred retailers that you can share with your friends. It is a small but real act of reclaiming your relationship with artists, and their music, from the big platforms.

We can help bridge the gaps and connect the smaller services together (back to the original vision of the web).

And, looking forward, we can start blending, sharing, cross-connecting using federated services like Mastodon and then connecting people, places, gigs, merch, in a way that could actually help everyone.

Isn’t that exciting!?

Designing for people not things — a digital archive in the age of the web

Gavin — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 14:37:14 +0000

Working with Dance Collection Danse (DCD) we have created a vision for their new national digital archive: a shared history that could be a co-created and co-managed collaboration between institutions, organizations and individuals.

We based our work on the idea that an archive in the age of the web was not just about ‘creating a portal’, but creating an environment where everyone can contribute, access and share.

Click here to read the reports and findings so far.

Longplayer Day 2019

Gavin — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 18:01:14 +0000

I opened the second edition of Longplayer Day, a peripatetic festival that takes inspiration from the themes and philosophies that underpin Jem Finer’s one-thousand-year-long musical composition, Longplayer.

The programme linked two locations together: Goldsmiths, University of London (New Cross) and the Longplayer listening post at Trinity Buoy Wharf (Poplar), conveying the supportive and collaborative relationship that exists between Goldsmiths and the Longplayer Trust. It began on the stroke of noon, Thursday 20 June 2019, and brought together an extraordinary programme of artists, performers and thinkers.

A few people asked for a copy of my talk, so here is a transcription.

Hello. My name is Gavin Starks.

I’ve been working at the intersection of business, technology, science, art and media for over 20 years.

I’m one of the Trustees of Longplayer and one of my roles is to help us think through how this piece will keep going for another 1000 years, and what that might mean.

I have a lot of questions for us today.

I’ve always been interested in time — I studied both Astrophysics and Electronic Music

A few years ago, when I joined, I asked Jem about the origins of the project.

We discussed how time works ( and how clocks aren’t really helpful when thinking about it).

We talked about how we are obsessed with time, yet rarely take time; or really take time to figure out our relationship with it.

Jem recounted childhood memories with his father; of getting a telescope, looking at the stars and learning from him that they’d been there for millions of years;

He recounted tuning into shortwave radio in South America and wondering ‘what’s in between the stations?’.

Jem reflected on our sense of time: its vastness; its intangibility;

of nightmares about time;

of developing an obsession about the idea of time;

of playing music and this experience being “on the cusp of controlling time”;

that playing music time seemed almost eternal;

that ‘other times’ were “very long presents”;

and how Longplayer is still a blip.

Jem learned that stars exhibit acoustic properties and are – in effect – ringing like bells…

The singing bowls were the outcome of a long process of thinking about time, not a starting point.

Personally, I am fascinated by the ridiculous nature of time and our attempts to quantify it: from Plank time (10^-44) to the 13 billion years of Cosmological time

to the duration of a political idea — to the length of a bad joke.

How are we meant to relate to and across these ideas?

For me, one of the things that is attractive about Longplayer is just the idea of thinking on a longer timeframe, beyond your life, or you children, or grandchildren.

A 1,000 years is 30 to 40 generations.

This is at significant odds with the pace of life today.

It’s hard to imagine how to think about making something that would last 1000 years.

The Longplayer vision not only embraces this 1000 year view. It ‘repeats’.

So what does this mean? How do we begin to think about it?

We have many ways to engage around the idea — it’s not just a single piece of music.

We’ve held many events, such as today; live performances, shared letters, scores, set up listening posts, sold ‘sponsored days’ and generated conversations

In fact, Longplayer can be considered as a combination of many elements:

An idea
Sound
Physical presence
Virtual presence
Code
Letters
Code
Numbers (e.g. score, angle, time, samples)
Algorithms
Long ideas
The story
Conversations
People

Our conversations are about the long view how can we explore which elements might be used, how, by whom, and when?

The time-frame is big — but it is still not ‘infinite’.

Longplayer helps us ask many questions about our world, and our role and meaning in its future.

It helps frame questions that are much bigger than us — from culture to climate change.

The time-bound nature of the project leads us to frame our questions about ‘what’ might be happening in the future differently.

What might our role be in that near-yet-far horizon?

What might our impact be?; how might we communicate across so many generations?

What might be happening on its fifth loop – in the year 7019?

So… How can we ensure it persists?

Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, given I ran the Open Data Institute I strongly advocate that everything that Longplayer does must be open.

There are few instances in history where ‘closed’ information persists, and many that show open is the best way to spread ideas. Two simple examples, separated by some centuries: the bible and the web. Things that are open and shared tend to persist more than those that are not.

Further, If we want people to piece together the next 1000 years of our history, — we might ask: would we rather them find things as archaeological artifacts, or as the whole story, or as a curated set of outputs?

In the Netherlands, when an arts organisation –http://societeanonyme.la/ – closed down due to lack of funding, they encoded their entire works (video, sounds, photos, texts) in a printed book, the SKOR codex, copies of which are distributed around the world.

How do we take the long view?

Longplayer is not ideological, new age, nor does it represent emptiness.

It challenges us to engage to take the long view: to question what this means to us as individuals; as communities; as societies.

We question what it means to ‘be longplayer’ / to ‘be long’ / ‘belong’.

A sense of belonging seems to underpin the work—providing a mechanic for longitudinal thinking, discussion and social engagement. A sense of place that isn’t bound in where, but when.

How can we embody principles of continuity and principles of change?

We considered the question: what else has lasted, or will last, for centuries?

Religions, songs and other musics, empires (Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, Japanese), businesses (e.g. the 1000 year old Japanese hotels).

Constructions, objects and things, covering a staggering range: from Tibetan stupas to nuclear waste dumps; pyramids; statues; paintings; books; Knighthoods; tapestries; tiles; accountancy; war; standing stones; mathematics.

And so, looking forward for longplayer, do we create

buildings in which the means to play LP awaits its players
shared performances
the score engraved in a rock beside a collection of singing bowls
the score encoded in the DNA of a cockroach
stories created and told across dinners, lunches, coffees & teas
nursery rhymes
events formal and informal, online and offline
games (eg. playing cards that contain myths)
embedded/codified in other systems (e.g. encrypted into the bitcoin blockchain)
aboard a satellite or on a deep space mission

I think one of the reasons we are drawn to longplayer is the tension of time itself.

We feel drawn in with questions and answers that we can grasp, but know that – while it is itself time-bound – the questions and answers it raises are both timeless and infinite.

As we journey through the fantastic programme today, we will navigate through self-generating art, strings that snap, walking sonic environments, explorations of materials, found objects, opera, antique synthesiser prototypes, prime numbers, collaborative writing, bells, reading, flora & fauna, vinyl spinning, improvisation and performance.

We join Jem in celebrating long player and long thinking.

And– – as you journey, I’d like to challenge you as to how you might be…long.

A national archive fit for the 21st century

Gavin — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00:39 +0000

Working with Dance Collection Danse (DCD) we are initiating a project to create a new national archive: a shared history that will be a co-created and co-managed collaboration between institutions, organizations and individuals.

We believe the idea of an archive in the age of the web isn’t just ‘creating a portal’ but creating an environment where everyone can contribute, access and share.

We are in the design phase, with an aim to connect records of Canadian dance from across the country into an accessible digital platform to enable engagement, contribution and reuse. The stories of dance and cultural heritage will be made accessible to the general public, as well as artists, educators, researchers, and beyond.

If you are interested in this project, please contact gea@dgen.net.

Quantum Quipu

Gavin — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 00:00:49 +0000

How the visual language of technology comes around every 1,000 years or so…

“talking knots were recording devices fashioned from strings. The Inca people used them for collecting data and keeping records, monitoring tax obligations, properly collecting census records, calendrical information, and for military organization” (more about Quipu and its decoding)

“we illustrate a step-by-step process for the design of a generic quantum computation device which implements a Turing-equivalent finite state machine capable of using superposition for all instructions, data, and state. In other words, it can execute completely separate branching instructions in quantum superposition.” (more about QQFSM — A Quantum Finite-State Machine).

Also see:

Quantum knots — experimental observations of knots in quantum matter — knotted solitary waves, or knot solitons, in the quantum-mechanical field describing a gas of superfluid atoms, also known as a Bose–Einstein condensate.

Quipu: High-performance Simulation of Quantum Circuits using Stabilizer Frames

A quantum city?

Gavin — Sat, 12 May 2018 12:40:56 +0000

Light pipes for photons, in triangles and loops

(in the photo, the oblongs are loops of fibre to create delays and the lines all fibre optics)

About 18 months ago (thanks to Libby) I attended a discussion about some of the most advanced quantum computing research in the world.

At the time I thought this must have been how it felt when people first made electrical circuits: the excitement of being able to channel and control electrons, that we now take for granted, but this time with light.

It felt like magic to me that we could control photons within such a beautiful design and wondered, given we see electrical circuits as a visual equivalent to cities, how quantum computers might indicate the future of our city design?

I love Stanza’s work for this (and many) reasons.

“The age of privacy is over. Imagine walking out the door, and knowing every single action, movement, sound, micro movement, pulse, and thread of information is being tracked, monitored, stored, analyzed, interpreted, and logged. The world we will live in seems to be a much bigger brother than the Orwellian vision, it is the mother of big brother.”

What if Nature were not collective but distributive?

Nomos asks if “the Quantum City is, different from the Mechanical and the Dynamic City, not strictly rational” and posits another angle that is highly aligned with contemporary cultural development (from the co-op movement to distributed ledgers/blockchain)

Arida has mapped [2002] the evolution of world views from the Roman Empire to Quantum theory, and the close links between science and urban form. He looked at the way we can design and live in quantum cities, exploring methodologies that can frame quantum urbanism: this work continues on the website http://www.quantumcity.com “Urbanism Needs a Conceptual Revolution”.

In one example (of many), IAAC created its framing of the quantised city [video, 2012], blending data from IoT sensors, cloud computing and combining environmental and energy data as part of urban architecture.

CAAD has published [2015] ‘A Quantum City, Mastering the Generic’, self-described as “a love letter to the city and intellectual culture”, it introduces Orlando — neither an authoritarian functionary, nor a restless activist, nor a comfortable member of a bourgeoisie, but a citizen of the digital age, a Quantum Citizen. https://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch/blog/a-quantum-city-mastering-the-generic

It feels to me that there is a line of enquiry to use the subjectivity of art to question the objectivity of science, political dogma, urban design and notions of truth.

What are the visual loops that could be examined between the circuit designs of quantum computers, city architecture, building design and social constructs?

How does this interface with our notions of Data Infrastructure?

Is there something to learn from combining quantum computing, art, urban design and cultural uncertainty?

Adventures in acoustic cosmology

Gavin — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 07:00:36 +0000

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE

RAS PR 17/30 (NAM 13)

3^rd July 2017

A project that explores whether there is a musical equivalent to the curvature of spacetime will be presented on Thursday 6^th July by Gavin Starks at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull.

Starks, who has a background in radio astronomy and electronic music, been working on developing an ‘acoustic cosmology’ for more than 20 years in collaboration with Prof Andy Newsam of Liverpool John Moores University. Their aim is to test whether mathematical relationships that describe cosmology and quantum mechanics can be applied to a sonic universe, or ‘soniverse’.

Starks explains: “If we look at the way that music has evolved from mediaeval plainsong to the algorithms that generate current chart-hits, we can see parallels developing in the way we describe music and descriptions of our perception of the universe. We can now create new types of sound from scratch – electronic sounds that simply couldn’t have existed before. It leads us to think about a digital sound world that we can’t enter, because it physically doesn’t exist. The question is – what next?

“We are starting to develop completely new forms of manipulating the microstructure of sound, as well as the macroenvironment in which we experience it. This raises questions about whether we can create a soniverse based on a set of fundamental equations, in the same way that we can create mathematical models of the universe.”

Starting with a single wavelength ‘sonon’, a fundamental particle in the soniverse equivalent to a photon, Starks has attempted to define its properties and the physics that may apply to it. The project’s initial model of ‘wave-time’ has three independent dimensions: the individual sonon wavelength, instrument time (the duration that an individual instrument plays) and performance time (duration equal to the length of an individual piece).

Some of the relationships explored to date are causal (i.e. the physics is consistent within the soniverse) and some are aesthetic (i.e. they describe a subjective musical construct). Many have direct parallels in the physical universe. For example, the listener in the soniverse is analogous to the observer in quantum mechanics: a sonon is only rendered musical or not when it is heard. A temporal gravity allows the clustering of sonons to create rhythms or musical phrases. Wave-time can be bent by clusters of sonons, in the same way that gravity distorts space-time in the universe.

Starks believes that bringing together cutting-edge science and understanding of musical structure creates the opportunity for discovery: “There’s a long common history between physics and music, for instance people built columns in cathedrals at a height linked to the resonant frequency, even before they understood the nature of pressure dynamics. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon that art and science are treated as different disciplines. By bringing them back together, and creating a common language, we can find different ways of interpreting and thinking about both music and cosmology.”

Newsam adds: “As astronomers, our experience of the universe is essentially visual – images, graphs, and so on. With the soniverse, we hope to create a new way to appreciate the cosmos, using our instinctive grasp of music and tone to explore relationships between different objects and cosmological models.”

Media contacts

NAM press office

Robert Massey, Royal Astronomical Society, rm@ras.org.uk

Anita Heward, Royal Astronomical Society, anitaheward@btinternet.com

Morgan Hollis, Royal Astronomical Society, mh@ras.org.uk

Science contacts

Gavin Starks, Dgen, binarydust.org, gavin@dgen.net, @agentGav

Andy Newsam, Professor of Astronomy Education and Engagement, Director of the National Schools’ Observatory, Liverpool John Moores University, andy@schoolsobservatory.org.uk

Multimedia

Blog post with embedded player, video and more information: http://www.binarydust.org/2017/05/18/listen-to-the-radio-cube-of-the-antennae-galaxies/

This data-cube is based on an optical image of the “Antennae Galaxies” colliding, as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and a radio-image taken by ALMA. Each pixel actually represents a spectrum of frequencies across the electromagnetic radio spectrum

The data-cube works in two ways.

Firstly, the radio frequencies have been transformed into visible colours, so you can see a slice of the cube.
Secondly, the electromagnetic spectrum has been transformed into an acoustic spectrum. Remember light≠sound: the frequency of electromagnetic radiation (‘light’) has been transformed into a frequency of pressure wave (sound).

By clicking the image and moving your cursor around you can “play” a spectrum of the colliding galaxies. Underneath, you can see a visual representation of the frequency spectrum. Spend some time moving slowly around the red(redshifted) areas – there is a surprising richness to the harmonics for such a simple sonification.

Note: the data-cube is 8MB and could take between 20 seconds to several minutes to appear if you are on a slow connection.

Audio

Inspired by the discovery of the first double-pulsar system (ranked as the 6th most important scientific discovery of 2004), and specially written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of RT32 – a reclaimed 32m Radio Telescope in the middle of the Latvian forests (the VIRAC Radio Telescope in Irbene) brought to life over a decade, after being trashed by the Soviet military, as the only radio telescope in the world that is dedicated to both science and art.

The full name of the piece is ds² – series 1 (PSR J0737-3039B) http://www.binarydust.org/2010/01/04/ds2-series-1/

Further information:

Further information on the project can be found at: http://www.binarydust.org/2017/01/27/escape-into-the-multiverse/

Notes for editors

Running from 2 to 7 July, the RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2017 (NAM 2017, http://nam2017.org) takes place this year at the University of Hull. NAM 2017 will bring together around 500 space scientists and astronomers to discuss the latest research in their respective fields. The conference is principally sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

T: http://twitter.com/rasnam2017

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organises scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognises outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

T: https://twitter.com/royalastrosoc

F: https://facebook.com/royalastrosoc

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC, www.stfc.ac.uk) is keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and radar.

STFC’s Astronomy and Space Science programme provides support for a wide range of facilities, research groups and individuals in order to investigate some of the highest priority questions in astrophysics, cosmology and solar system science. STFC’s astronomy and space science programme is delivered through grant funding for research activities, and also through support of technical activities at STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre and RAL Space at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. STFC also supports UK astronomy through the international European Southern Observatory.

T: https://twitter.com/stfc_matters

TALK — Forms of Knowledge: Calculations and Creativity

Gavin — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:23:43 +0000

“In celebration of a new installation of work by glass artist Dr Shelley James, The Hospital Club presents a panel discussion about the science and art of data.

Join Professor Arthur I Miller, author of Colliding Worlds: How cutting edge science is redefining contemporary art, and I, for a conversation chaired by Professor Barry Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy at UCL.”

Binary Dust at the Hospital Club Tuesday on 18th April 2017 from dgenhq

Book tickets (or email me for guest tickets)

Tuesday 18th April 7:00pm
Duration: 1 hour
Based in The Oak Room

Dr James work plays with the optical and material properties of glass to create compelling geometries and illusions of space.

Data as culture – summary

Gavin — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 00:18:50 +0000

In October 2012, as CEO of the newly-created Open Data Institute, the first work I commissioned was … art.

Why art?

For me, artists help to shape questions before we’ve worked out that questions are needed. They might not be able to articulate a precise question, but often indicate a shape of something emergent. Over the past 20 years, when I’ve been trying to understand what shape the future might take, what areas might be interesting, or what thoughts are converging to create something new, I look to art, collaborate with artists and help make works. Whether writing music, working with collectives such as AmbientTV, or with art-scientists at radio telescopes, these crossovers have been a continuous part of my own development, and deeply influential in the development of my ‘professional’ career (although I’m still not sure if there’s a boundary, or where it might be).

When creating the ODI I knew we would have to challenge perceptions (both within and outside our own community). We would have to work out what questions might exist, and what things might be possible. I also felt strongly that ‘culture’ was usually left to ‘later’, rather than being the reason you do things in the first place. To not express this culture through art seemed ridiculous.

Not that this didn’t raise the eyebrows of some of the new team, and indeed the board, and Number 10, at first. But the outcomes exceeded everyone’s expectations. We captured people’s imaginations. We transformed an invisible ‘geeky’ thing (data) into living, kinetic, organic, relevant, challenging and provocative conversations.

The nine works in the first collection created a remarkable linear narrative (from laughter to profound reflection), installed in our global headquarters, and set a high bar for future commissions. They changed the way politicians related to data, they encouraged corporate partners to sign up immediately, they stimulated debate in the team and in visiting groups, and created conversations inside and outside of the building: the Washington Post came to film the artworks as their lead feature when introducing the ODI. Visual communication in action.

Our second programme was a call for curators and included partnerships with FutureEverything and Lighthouse. It covered everything from surveillance to knitting.

Working with The Space (BBC + Arts Council) we also helped to commission original data-driven work, http://www.weneedus.org, which was presented at TEDglobal in Brazil, UN event in Columbia, Somerset House, and many other events.

Our third year saw the commissioning of artists in residence. Our fourth, the commissioning of a musician in residence.

2012 foreword

http://theodi.org/data-as-culture-2012

‘Data as Culture’ is reflective of our time.

The first public work I initiated, just 12 days into my new role (and on Ada Lovelace day), was a call for data-driven artwork that would sit in our new Shoreditch office.

That we received over 80 submissions in 2 weeks from over 20 countries was an amazing display of the emerging global consciousness.

As nations, organisations, and individuals from around the world embrace and release more and more open (addressable, structured, accountable, continuous) data, we can see that we are at the beginning of a new web – much as people asked in the early 90s “why should I have a website?”, today’s question is “why should I have open data?”. The answers are as difficult to enumerate, but no less profound.

In an age of data-driven decision-making, we are led to believe that data represents truth. Simultaneously our collective data shadows are revealing, in real-time, details about our personal lives, social groups, corporate interactions, and civic society.

Combined, these trends open many, many questions: whose data are we trusting? Who wrote the algorithm? Who wrote the code? What are the unexpected consequences of combining different data? If our personal, business, and political decisions are shaped by these data, is there dogma in the code?

Equally, our maker culture is re-emerging, as evidenced not only in events around the world, but in the art commissions themselves: only one of the nine works is screen-based. This concept of the web ‘breaking through the glass’ and becoming part of our physical world could not be more timely, and significant, to the work of the Open Data Institute: to catalyse the evolution of an open data culture that creates economic, environmental, and social value.

I would like to thank MzTEK for creating and running the commission, all those who submitted, and those who were successful: we will draw inspiration from your work. It is truly world-class.

Gavin Starks BSc MMus FRSA

CEO, ODI

November 2012

2014 brochure

http://theodi.org/data-as-culture-2014

The Data as Culture programme raises questions about the concepts and practicalities of open data. It explores the wider implication of the culture of open data on culture itself, to challenge our understanding of what data is, and how it may affect and reflect our lives.

Running the first commission as the inaugural ODI project in 2012 was a bold decision. We have been delighted with the outcomes: reaching over 100,000 people internationally, with features at TED.com, in the Wall Street Journal, the Churchill Room in Whitehall, and in dozens of presentations from Taiwan to Washington DC. Over 3,000 visitors to our UK office experienced the works directly, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

The first commission was an open call for artists which we curated with MzTEK.

This year we ran an open call for curators to expand our shared vision for open data culture. Shiri Shalmy had recently curated the exhibition Data at Contemporary Art Society, London and had a very strong and prescient concept for the second exhibition which centred around data ownership and access, public and private. Works for Data as Culture were selected for their physical presence and the exchange they enable between artist, artwork and audience.

This commission explores our relationship with surveillance, privacy, and personal data, taking a critical and sometimes comedic look at the power of open data. Works include pneumatic contraptions, satellite imagery, data collection performances, and knitted data discrepancies.

Data as Culture is for everyone. We want to ensure conversations about open data expand beyond specialist communities and through to the general public. Using data as a material increases awareness of what data is, how it can be used creatively, how it can inspire, encourage play and lateral thinking, and help people share stories and experiences.

To broaden our reach we have partnered with Lighthouse, a digital culture agency and gallery in Brighton, and FutureEverything, based in Manchester, who are critically engaged in technology, and run one of the longest standing media arts festivals in the world. The works will be exhibited across these locations and in London, at the ODI itself.

The Data as Culture programme will continue to develop relationships with arts organisations to expand the programme nationally and internationally, for artists and audiences – for everyone – everywhere.

Julie Freeman, Art Associate, ODI

Gavin Starks, CEO, ODI

March 2014