Information has become a kind of molecular fiber of our day and age that surrounds us everywhere, and is nearly always mediated through digital visualizations that shape our interactions with it. How would our understanding of data and the larger complex behavioral patterns they construct change, if we could touch it, walk around it and even hear it? How can one bring in nuances of interpretation in data translations? How do the mediums we use and the physical spaces we explore data in, influence how we ultimately understand the larger systems data creates? Can data ever be approached as an artistic medium? Is it still data, then? What role does the concept of play have in mediating these sculptural approaches to data?

This talk examines these questions through the work of Nathalie Miebach, who translates scientific data related to ecology, meteorology, astronomy and oceanography into woven sculptures and musical scores. These unorthodox ways of integrating audio, visual and tactile modes of expression in the interpretation of information, explore the role aesthetics play in building a more nuanced understanding of data.