On the transmutability of textual data: concept and practices

• Main Authors: Catarina Lee, Luísa Ribas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Católica Portuguesa 2016-01-01
• Series: Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts
• Subjects: Digital data; Text; Visualization; Sonification; Transmutability
• Online Access: https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/jsta/article/view/7260

This paper discusses the creative potential of the transmutability of digital data, while focusing on the exploration of textual material. It begins by addressing the conceptual and creative possibilities associated to the topic, and then discusses artifacts that imply or express transmutability as an artistic concept and method. To this end, we resort to a framework for the description and analysis of these artifacts, focusing on their conceptual dimension, on their mechanics and on the elements of their experience. In particular, we address the concepts they approach through the use of data in textual formats as source information or content, we consider the processes for its manipulation, and describe the resulting sensory manifestations while emphasizing their dynamics and variability. In this manner, this study seeks to highlight how transmutability becomes relevant as an artistic argument, by proposing aesthetic experiences that explore the ubiquity and heterogeneity of data in our contemporary world, as it becomes available in text formats.