Data-Based Art

PhotoED Magazine
Aug 26
2 min read

I spend a lot of time thinking about big data and its effects on our everyday lives. Outside of creating fine art photography, I work with spreadsheets in the field of database marketing.

Unrelated to my creative photography work, I stumbled onto an Australian-born mathematician named Matt Parker. Matt is the Public Engagement in Mathematics Fellow at Queen Mary University of London who developed (or at least popularized) a script that converts each RGB pixel of an image into a cell in an Excel spreadsheet. After seeing his technique, I wanted to try it for myself.

I was curious as to what the results of this script would look like printed. The idea of bothering to print something that may not be saleable intrigued me because I like to use my art as a vehicle to get more people contemplating the impact (both good and bad) of the constant data collection in our lives. My personal stance is that it is mostly bad for us as individuals; the more people talking and thinking about this issue, the better off everyone will be.

When I first started experimenting with this idea, I found that if I had tried to print my initial attempts of working with this script, I would have ended up with an image over 23 metres wide. After several more attempts, I was able to adjust the image to a more reasonable size (1.55 m - 1.27 m) that my printer could handle.

I experimented with several images and settled on a photograph I created at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. The image evokes a sense of place, of being human, and of

experiencing a moment in life. Even in these instances, when we are not conscious of it, data is captured about our lives, our physical location, and the people around us. Regardless of how remote Icelandic hot springs are, it has become increasingly difficult to distance ourselves from digital data.

Timothy Starchuk is a practicing fine art photographer based in Edmonton, Alberta. He sits on the Board of The Works International Visual Arts Society and has exhibited work at galleries such as Latitude 53, Harcourt House, and Vacancy Hall.

As a driving force in communicating his visual messages, he thoroughly enjoys pushing technical limits through experimentation, printing his work on different substrates such as large format printing on Baltic birch; playing with Polaroid prints; and through trying digital data challenges such as converting his images into Excel documents.

Tim talks about data + marketing, how we balance modern convenience with how our private data is tracked - everywhere - we - go. Check out his video presentation from our Edmonton - PHOTO INSPIRATION NIGHT VIDEO - HERE.

photoED Magazine featured Timothy Starchuk's story in print in our SOLD OUT, but...

You can now get this issue DIGITALLY DELIVERED HERE.