Invited lecture / Manofim Jerusalem Contemporary Art Festival, Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem / 26-29 October, 2021

Big data, Mapping, and Pattern Recognition

what is visible and what is not

The digital age produces an overload of information: when data storage possibilities become almost unlimited, the information can be piled up to unperceivable scales. However, through new practices of big data mapping, it is possible to extract patterns and trace connections that provide data with new meanings and insights.

With reference to contemporary theories of archiving, this lecture critically examines the use of big data mapping technologies and to the potentially complex political and ethical aspects of their implementations. In this context, it also refers to the changing concept of “real” when synthetic information created through artificial intelligence algorithms becomes a significant element in big data mapping methodologies.