proximity in times of a pandemic - A.I.R

A fascinating project exploring the impact of the ongoing pandemic on interactions and social proximity in a breathtaking melange of data science and a beautifully crafted sculpture / installation. The Spanish collaborative multiplay, consisting of artist Elisa Cuesta, designer Victoria de la Torre and architect Pedro Arnanz, is exploring the effect of the pandemic on the way we as a society interact physically and virtually during its onset in the first half of 2020.

The installation speaks to the viewer immediately and raises questions that are answered when taking a closer look at the creation process of this modern sculpture.

A big outer shell, roughly tubular, embraces slightly entangled tubes within, which get inflated by a pneumatic system. The cross section of the tubes varies along the axis of the outer cell, which represents a virtual time line from before the pandemic into its spread across the globe. The tubes have different colours, all rendered in somewhat dim shades, each representing a certain set of data. The varying cross-section along the axis of the outer cell vary according to the underlying dataset, depicting the proportional coverage of certain topics on social media. Further artwork explaining the installation gives more detailed insights about major events that impacted the distribution of topics and therefore influenced proximity within the society.

The artists are drawing from different sources and research to demonstrate the shifting levels of agency in society. They analyse the state of society on three levels. Connectivity shows the emotional closeness and is backed by data of a network traffic study. Physical closeness is correlated with the stringency of government regulations that is published as the “stringency curve” by Oxford University. And finally the stream of conversations on social media as an indicator of affinity and common interests among individuals based on twitter #hashtag statistics. All this is put into further context by adding important events, which have been noticed globally or were at least influential enough to impact communication trends.

The analysis revealed 12 topics of interest that are tracked through the first 6 months of 2020, while 54 worldwide events give context for further analysis. The followed topics or categories were:

• Culture and Entertainment

• Mobility and Borders

• Social Issues

• Environment

• Policies and Economy

• Social Media Noise

• Health

• Religion and Festivities

• Sports

• Influencers

• Science and Technology

• Violence and Armed Conflicts

Those streams of communication in relation to the stringency of government restrictions and the physical proximity that got lost more and more during those 6 months shows how clearly our lives are impacted, but also how well certain media can keep us connected and help during such times.

It is also interesting that the artists are talking about one worldwide society. This understanding is possible through globalisation and lowering of borders by digitalisation, reaching a level of interconnectedness unprecedented. But it also tempts us to forget that this is unfortunately not a fair representation of the global society as a whole, as many are still left behind and not contributing to this picture.

But not to drift away too much, let me get back to the essence of this fine piece of art. Most inspiring about this project is the interconnection of data science to sociologically relevant themes moving all our lives and putting this into a compelling installation. The way that data science and social media trends in combination with studies about government regulations are combined here, shows the true benefit of work along the borders of art, design and science. Deeper insights are gained into our altered reality extended by social media and communication that makes parts of it virtual but nevertheless truly influencing our behaviour and interactions.

The artists derive a picture of changing societal behaviour due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic and need for physical distance. A clear shift into a virtual proximity is shown. The trend displayed leaves it open if increased physical proximity will cause an equal decrease to pre-crisis values for affinity or leaves a permanent shift in the way we interact - I suspect the latter.

Technically interesting interdisciplinary work. I am truly inspired and would love to see more details about how the project was realised going into the fabrication and electronics parts making up this fine piece of art. After an initial contact with the artists I am hoping for further insights and might extend this article.

Looking forward to seeing more of these talented artists, which were featured by Science Gallery Dublin for this project. I highly recommend taking a closer look at there project page, where the artists explain parts of the work in more detail.

Keep exploring systems!

all images used with permisison by the artists (given by Victoria de la Torre). Original content can be found on the project page: https://a-i-r.online/ and the collaborative's instagram account: multipl.sys/. Don't forget to follow them if you are impressed by their work as well.