[ISEA2022] Workshop: Vincent Charlebois — Environmental Data Perceptualization

Workshop Statement

June 11th, CCCB

Keywords: Climate, data, archive, sonification, visualization

A weather station records environmental data. The archive created becomes the scenario for intermedia experiences. Digital technologies allow for the creation of interfaces with natural phenomena. Code and software create worlds that can be perceptualized through visualization and sonification techniques.

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to open-source tools and coding strategies as means of creating original media assemblages with weather data. Temperature, humidity, CO2, noise and barometric pressure records will be used as the basic material for the creation of sound, image and 3d objects.

We will begin by exploring the sensing technologies that create environmental data archives. This will be followed by an investigation of generative creative approaches to visualization, sonification and overall perceptualization of our direct environment. Finally, we will prototype creative systems that can act as interfaces with past and present climate data.

Although the methodology used could be applied to different data type, this workshop will focus specifically on the transformation of environmental information. A list of tools and code snippets will be provided to all participants so we can co-create systems that uses weather data as material for speculative interfaces with nature.

What is the sound of 38 °C? Is this the shape of CO2 levels? How can humidity variations be expressed through frequency? Could we build monuments out of climatic point cloud metrics? Beyond big data and climate collapse, we will look at how weather data perceptualization offers methods of making the climate visible, audible and tangible.

  • Vincent Charlebois is an interdisciplinary artist born in 1986 in Montreal, Canada. His research-based practice constitutes an assemblage of disciplines such as performance, text and media art. His work takes form through technological interfaces with nature and human-machine interactions in the context of dematerialized exchanges. His projects explore the perceptualization of ecosystems through environmental data and the poetic and political potential of the archive. He holds a BFA in Intermedia/Cyberarts from Concordia University and a Master’s in Ecological Buildings and Biocities from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. He fabricated future forests in Canada for a dozen seasons and currently lives in Montreal. http://Charlebois.info