The Big Bang Data exhibition at Somerset House in London pushes the idea that today's data explosion is catapulting us into a future in which everything is transformed; a world that is irreconcilable with the institutions and societies of the past. Beyond the considerable technical challenges of the contemporary data deluge, the different roles and situations in which data are produced and consumed are far from being well understood — and their consequences are even harder to predict. Big Bang Data attempts to showcase these uncertainties by recapitulating public discussions about big data through the work of artists, designers, journalists and activists.
The exhibition builds on three general arguments. First, all sorts of phenomena and processes can be represented and driven by data once we have the appropriate computing and networked digital machinery. Second, it's not easy to understand the character and consequences of these data-based processes. And third, data will shape the ways in which we understand ourselves and make decisions, businesses run their operations and governments make policy, whether or not the implications of this shift are properly evaluated. The exhibition anticipates both great opportunities for democratic involvement, as sought, for example, by open data initiatives, and serious surveillance risks, as the Snowden revelations suggested. It also draws attention to the dangers of the digital divide, with works intended to challenge the visitor's preconceptions on various topics — particularly the possibilities for personal data snooping and identity theft that digital environments engender.
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