Living Data

About

Dancer Caterina Mocciola improvises with animated data. Rozelle School of Visual Arts, Sydney, 7 May 2012.

We are Living Data, along with krill, whales and birds.

Designing a sustainable future requires understanding our impacts on earth systems and the changes to earth systems that impact on us. This means identifying our selves as integral to the system. However, people seldom acknowledge that personal and economic growth depend on us maintaining healthy natural systems. Living Data is a research project that appeals to body (sensory) knowledge of our connection to natural systems. The research evolves through symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationships that develop between artists and scientists. Animations and other art works are designed to combine stories, hypotheses, data and iconography. Like a scientific model, a Living Data presentation is developed to reflect consensual understandings. Living Data builds on the Antarctic Animationproject. Our research is practice-based. Animations and other art works are designed. A Blog is maintained to document methods used. On-line peer reviews and comments ensure ethical use of shared material and enable impacts of the work to be assessed. Animations are made that contribute to understanding impacts of climate on people and the environment. This practice exemplifies the shift towards collective knowledge production that is essential to advance understanding of climate change. Core scientific data come from the Climate Change Cluster,University of Technology, Sydney, and the Australian Antarctic Division. Living Data links with Lynchpin - the Ocean Project which coordinator Sue Anderson explains has been developed "to support research into the significance of the oceans to life on the planet and to encourage arts/ocean science conversations and collaborations that bring these stories to the wider community in new ways". The program is endorsed by the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and partnered by the Bookend Trust.

Dr Lisa Roberts,Living Data project leader, Visiting Fellow
Faculty of Design, Architecture & Built Environment (DAB)
University of Technology, Sydney

C3: Climate, Collaboration, Connectivity

This project has created synergy around communicating impacts of climate on humans and the natural world. Like an organism, the idea has grown and metamorphosed, capturing people's attention, understanding, humour and creativity.

What are you passionate about?

Dr Martina Doblin,Senior Research Fellow
Climate Change Cluster (C3)
Faculty of Science
University of Technology, Sydney

Lisa Roberts presents Living Data: Artists and scientists contribute to a grand narrative for a sustainable future. Dreams and Imagination: Healing pathways conference Sydney, 20 April 2012.