Artistic data visualization: Beyond visual analytics

Abstract

Information visualization is traditionally viewed as a tool for data exploration and hypothesis formation. Because of its roots in scientific reasoning, visualization has traditionally been viewed as an analytical tool for sensemaking. In recent years, however, both the mainstreaming of computer graphics and the democratization of data sources on the Internet have had important repercussions in the field of information visualization. With the ability to create visual representations of data on home computers, artists and designers have taken matters into their own hands and expanded the conceptual horizon of infovis as artistic practice. This paper presents a brief survey of projects in the field of artistic information visualization and a preliminary examination of how artists appropriate and repurpose "scientific" techniques to create pieces that actively guide analytical reasoning and encourage a contextualized reading of their subject matter. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.