Information art

Information art, which is also known as informatism or data art, is an art form that is inspired by and principally incorporates data, computer science, information technology, artificial intelligence, and related data-driven fields. The information revolution has resulted in over-abundant data that are critical in a wide range of areas, from the Internet to healthcare systems. Related to conceptual art, electronic art and new media art, informatism considers this new technological, economical, and cultural paradigm shift, such that artworks may provide social commentaries, synthesize multiple disciplines, and develop new aesthetics. Realization of information art often take, although not necessarily, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches incorporating visual, audio, data analysis, performance, and others. Furthermore, physical and virtual installations involving informatism often provide human-computer interaction that generate artistic contents based on the processing of large amounts of data.

Background
Information art has a long history as visualization of qualitative and quantitative data forms a foundation in science, technology, and governance. Information design and informational graphics, which has existed before computing and the Internet, are closely connected with this new emergent art movement. An early example of informatism the 1970 exhibition organized called "Information" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (curated by Kynaston McShine). This is the time when conceptual art has emerged as a leading tendency in the United States and internationally. At the same time arose the activities of Experiments in Art and Technology known as E.A.T.

Contemporary practices
Information art are manifested using a variety of data sources such as photographs, census data, video clips, search engine results, digital painting, network signals, and others. Often, such data are transformed, analyzed, and interpreted in order to convey concepts and develop aesthetics. When dealing with big data, artists may use statistics and machine learning to seek meaningful patterns that drive audio, visual, and other forms of representations. Recently, informatism is used in interactive and generative installations that are often dynamically linked with data and analytical pipelines.

Examples

 * The Tempestry Project
 * Warming stripes
 * Climate spiral

Related subjects

 * Algorithmic art
 * Climate change art
 * Computer art
 * Conceptual art
 * Data visualization
 * Digital art
 * Experiments in Art and Technology
 * Generative art
 * Knowledge visualization
 * Post-conceptual art
 * Roy Ascott
 * Software art
 * Systems art
 * Systems thinking