Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) announces its
spring 2014 exhibition, //the_ART_of_DATA curated by Steven Sacks. On view
April 24-July 6, //the_ART_of_DATA considers what our era of pervasive data represents for the human condition. With the increasing ubiquity of sensors, signals, and connected devices that surround us, what it means to be human has undoubtedly shifted. These technological advances have stimulated both an unprecedented wealth of opportunity and new anxieties about privacy and identity, as everything about an individual can be measured, quantified, analyzed and nearly permanently stored.

//the_ART_of_DATA presents the work of international artists who are pioneers in developing the visual language that makes data captivating, expressive, and meaningful. Exhibiting artists include: R. Luke DuBois, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Manfred Mohr, Tristan Perich, Casey Reas, John Simon, Thomson & Craighead, Siebren Versteeg, and Addie Wagenknecht. Several of the works featured in the exhibition are interactive artworks that invite visitors to directly participate and engage with data as an artistic medium.

The exhibiting artists in //the_ART_of_DATA follow in the tradition of filmmakers, photographers, and pop artists who embraced new technology throughout the 20th century, exploring the intersection of commercialism and art. The works presented take us beyond literal data visualization (a staple of science, business, and journalism) to help us see the unexpected in data, to gain a sense for its cultural meaning, and make the otherwise abstract into an emotional experience. The works help us process our collective anxiety and fascination with the phenomena of a pervasively instrumented world. The exhibition explores both the power of the artist to help us understand a new world and the reliability of new technologies to lead to disruptive and exciting advancements in art.

For this exhibition, BMoCA is collaborating with guest curator Steven Sacks, founder and director of bitforms gallery NYC. Sacks partnered with Peter Hirshberg, chairman of Re:Imagine Group, to present //the_ART_of_DATA at The Resnick Gallery at The Aspen Institute in 2013. BMoCA looks forward to presenting an exhibition that is greatly expanded from The Aspen Institute exhibition.

The essay for this exhibition was written by Peter Hirshberg.