The Data Bearers
The core of my work is based on the Buddhist principle that we are ultimately and simply responsible for each other. The social, political and personal ramifications of this idea has led me to make work that is not always statically tied to the gallery and engages people in intimate yet public ways. I use social opportunities to create contemplative moments for participants.
My process is cyclical in nature and manifests in several different media. While attending art related events, I record data about the numbers of people I meet and speak with, and their relationships to each other. Drawings are made based on these meetings and events. The drawings reflect the visual language of network theory diagrams, an aspect of complex systems. Complex systems science “examines how parts of a system generate the collective behaviors of the system, and how the system interacts with its environment.” (visualcomplexity.com). I use this model in developing the ways I make my work. Complex constructs, the Point-to-Point series, are made by grouping data from several events to form a relationship between dimensions, playing the illusionistic space of the drawings off the actual space of sculpture. I then make sculptural work in the form of backpacks to be worn during performances. The backpacks, called Data Bearers, further the use of complex systems in their structural formation. While wearing a Data Bearer, I wander around art events or environments. I approach people and engage them in activity that requires retrospection and contemplation. I hand them a wire to knot or mark, with each mark representing the people to whom they feel close. This action interrupts their day while asking them to evaluate the emotional ties in their lives. The process of tying the wire shifts their focus on the physicality of a handmade narrative. The collected wires are gathered for use in the next Data Bearer piece, creating a new network of participant’s lives.
Audrey Goldstein
2009
My process is cyclical in nature and manifests in several different media. While attending art related events, I record data about the numbers of people I meet and speak with, and their relationships to each other. Drawings are made based on these meetings and events. The drawings reflect the visual language of network theory diagrams, an aspect of complex systems. Complex systems science “examines how parts of a system generate the collective behaviors of the system, and how the system interacts with its environment.” (visualcomplexity.com). I use this model in developing the ways I make my work. Complex constructs, the Point-to-Point series, are made by grouping data from several events to form a relationship between dimensions, playing the illusionistic space of the drawings off the actual space of sculpture. I then make sculptural work in the form of backpacks to be worn during performances. The backpacks, called Data Bearers, further the use of complex systems in their structural formation. While wearing a Data Bearer, I wander around art events or environments. I approach people and engage them in activity that requires retrospection and contemplation. I hand them a wire to knot or mark, with each mark representing the people to whom they feel close. This action interrupts their day while asking them to evaluate the emotional ties in their lives. The process of tying the wire shifts their focus on the physicality of a handmade narrative. The collected wires are gathered for use in the next Data Bearer piece, creating a new network of participant’s lives.
Audrey Goldstein
2009
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