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Data Visualization As 3D Sculptures

Nathalie Miebach takes scientific data and translates it into incredibly complex and beautiful woven sculptures.

We’ve all seen data visualization projects representing all kinds of information—some of which are baffling, some beautiful, some illuminating—but artist Nathalie Miebach takes the medium a step further by turning that data into woven sculptures. Her interest lies in the representation of weather patterns in sculptural form. So, how does one go about translating something as large and abstract as atmospheric conditions into a three-dimensional artwork? Miebach has numerous approaches. Some of her sculptures feature weather data that she’s collated and then changed into musical scores, which are then transformed into entangled colorful sculptures.

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Below is Hurricane Noel, which the artist describes as a “3D musical score translating ocean and meteorological conditions of Hurricane Noel as it entered the Gulf of Maine in November 2007.”

Others are environmental data she’s collated from where she’s been living, anything from tidal changes due to the sun and moon and ocean and land temperatures, to the relationship between barometric pressure, cloud cover, soil temperature readings, and bird sightings. Not only are they interesting purely for aesthetic reasons, but also as manifestations of this data. We’re used to seeing data viz in the form of infographics or interactive visualizations, but rarely as physical objects that are tangible and capable of asserting themselves on our environment. The sculptures that Miebach crafts are bizarre, intricate, and captivating, while they also maintain a regard for the information she is working with and address important issues like climate change and the human effect on our planet.

The data behind her piece Arctic Sun – Solar Exploration Device for the Arctic (above) is divulged: “Using a base of 48 hours, this piece converts various layers of data (July ’06 – June ’07) related to the gravitational influence of both Sun and Moon on the Arctic environment.”

Visualizing data is one thing, but the way Miebach represents it in the material world is quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We’ll leave you with a quote from the artist herself:

Central to this work is my desire to explore the role visual aesthetics play in the translation and understanding of science information. By utilizing artistic processes and everyday materials, I am questioning and expanding boundaries through which science data has been traditionally visually translated (ex: graphs, diagrams), while at the same time provoking expectations of what kind of visual vocabulary is considered to be in the domain of 'science' or 'art'.

Visit her website to see more sculptures that visually articulate scientific data and read up on the various methodologies behind their inception.

[via It’s Nice That]