Abstract. In this era of big data there is an increasing attention paid to the analytical possibilities offered by both visualization and sonification technologies. When these two sensory modalities converge within an immersive display environment we acknowledge the inherent theatricality of the presentation and the possibility that data and dramaturgy might converge in a useful and compelling way. The horizon is determined, in part, by several convergent factors including the development of increasingly robust visualization technologies in the form of video-game engines, growing sophistication of complex dynamical modeling approaches, an expanding audience with more advanced expectations for sophisticated interactive experiences, a greater emphasis on the development of compelling interactive education media, and the realization of the benefits of cooperative research teams bridging the arts, science, and technology fields.
This working group will examine the state of the art in terms of existing aesthetic and technological limitations as well as future potentials for transdisciplinary research in data dramatization with a specific emphasis on ecological and environmental data. This conversation will take an expansive look at the simulated representation of a single organism vs. rendering the behaviors of an entire population vs. interactions among multiple populations. Within this speculative context the group will consider what writer Timothy Morton calls “hyperobjects — entities of such vast temporal and spatial dimensions that they defeat traditional ideas about what a thing is in the first place.” As a part of this discussion the working group will conduct preliminary tests of real-time data display at the Institute of American Indian Arts immersive dome with an intention to formulate a foundation for future collaborative research projects.