Cyclone brings together two different data sets; a live internet stream of discussions from online forums, and meteorological data of cyclonic storm conditions from NASA. The live discussions are taken from online forums promoting extreme viewpoints (e.g. climate change denial) which are then mapped to meteorological storm data. The overall effect is of churning and swirling weather fronts driven by extremist arguments. The project confronts the way that hate speech and ‘alt facts’ are penetrating public discourse through technological platforms, ultimately affecting our body politic, bodies and natural environments; a process we describe as the ‘data abject’. Tom Corby/Gavin Baily.
Media/date of production 2005
Software, live data, screen. Varying duration and scale.
Different configurations of this work have been re-made in response to external events including the financial crisis in 2007.
Referenced in:
S. Cubitt, ‘Digital Aesthetics’ in C. Paul (ed.) A Companion to Digital Art, Boston: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016, pp.275-278
R. Colson, The Fundamentals of Digital Art, London: AVA, 2007, pp. 74-75, p.83
M. Kovskaya, ‘The English Lounge’, Art Review, Summer 2009, Issue 33, p.147