Patterns and Shadows of Life: The View From the White Room

The “obsessive collection“ of data manifests itself in unusual ways, from the micro to the macro: mattresses that collect data on our body temperature and sleep movements; mobile flashlight apps that collect our location data; algorithms that predict the next generation of criminals and monitor the telephone communications of entire countries.
This raises fundamental questions about living in a quantified society. Who owns this data? How is it traded, aggregated and stored? Who makes the decisions and how? How are relationships between ourselves and others changing, and how does this change our societies? And ultimately: Why should I care?

Stephanie Hankey and Marek Tuszynski are founders and directors of the Tactical Technology Collective and co-curators of the exhibition. Tactical Tech is a collective of practitioners, technologists, and activists who work to demystify the politics of data in an international context. Since its founding in 2003, Tactical Tech’s work has supported thousands of activists, journalists, and human rights defenders worldwide to use information and technology.