Beautiful Data II

The second offering of Beautiful Data focused on “difficult collections” poised on the edge of the digital/material divide. An energetic, top-notch cohort of art historians, curators, and technologists convened in Harvard’s Carpenter Center to develop projects around collections of things that resist ready digitization, or exist as ephemeral and hybrid objects and events. Through workshops and demonstrations, participants pondered data as a medium for art with its own curatorial and preservation challenges, and considered ways of working with designers and new-media artists in the context of materials and mixed-media collections. And we pursued these questions amidst a feast of architectural inspiration: with a base camp in Le Corbusier’s atrium in the Carpenter Center, participants made extensive use of the recently-reopened Harvard Art Museums, in the remarkable new building designed by Renzo Piano, where they enjoyed access to reimagined facilities for the study and exhibition of objects of abiding interest.

Beautiful Data II Publications
Beautiful Data II Notebook