Institut Ramon LLull

Big Bang Data at Somerset House

Thought.  London, 03/12/2015

In December 2015, Somerset House presents Big Bang Data, a major landmark exhibition about the big data explosion of the 21st century, which is radically transforming our lives. The exhibition, first presented in Barcelona and produced by CCCB and Fundación Telefónica, features in London specially commissioned and rarely seen pieces from a variety of international new media artists, including Ryoji Ikeda, James Bridle and Eva and Franco Mattes,all of which draw upon data to explore this most important issue of our time.




Big Bang Data is curated by Olga Subirós and José Luis de Vicente with Somerset House. The exhibition has previously been shown in Barcelona, Madrid and Buenos Aires and has been reworked for London. It is organised by Somerset House Trust, the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona - CCCB - and Fundación Telefónica, Madrid.

'The works follow the origins of data, reveal its industrial infrastructure, visualise hotlydiscussed data sets, from migration patterns and artificial intelligence to the global population of cats and trends in selfies, and consider the  advantages and dangers of data in our modern day society. The artists have sourced sets of data not only from research centres, but also the public – possibly even visitors to the exhibition – themselves.

Today the world contains an unimaginably vast amount of data which is getting ever bigger, ever more quickly. We are all endlessly producing and releasing data, whether passively as our daily lives are recorded by cameras, telephone calls and card payments, or by actively engaging in social media and searching the internet. As a result, data stories are increasingly at the forefront of the global news agenda, from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Edward Snowden to the recent celebrity iCloud and Ashley Madison hacking scandals.

Data is now engrained in 21st century culture, yet the ways that data is organised, used and interpreted are still often unfathomable or almost invisible to the general public, and the issues raised by data for individuals, businesses and governments alike are conflicting and complex to comprehend.

Big Bang Data discloses the hidden truths of the data deluge through an interesting and varied collection of artworks and projects.' Source: Somerset House

More information and tickets at Somerset House website

About the exhibition at CCCB, Barcelona

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