Friday lunchtime lecture: Artist Giles Lane on using Data to stimulate your senses

Humans use multiple senses to navigate their surroundings in day-to-day life. But data is largely confined to the realm of the visual; from the ways the systems that collect it are designed and programmed, to the spreadsheets and databases that analyse it, to the visualisations that help us make sense of it. But is this enough? ‘Data manifestation’ describes how we move data away from the screen and into physical and environmental forms, so we can use different senses to understand its meaning. Giles Lane will talk about the Lifestreams project – which works to express complex datasets into 3D forms to help people recognise patterns and understand meaning by using spatial and tactile senses – and hint at future possibilities. About Giles Lane Giles Lane is an artist, designer and the founder of creative studio Proboscis. He has led internationally acclaimed transdisciplinary projects such as Mapping Perception, Urban Tapestries and Navigating History, with a strong focus on research, public engagement and participation. Proboscis collaborates with research partners including UCL, the London School of Economics, the Institute of Child Health, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Birkbeck College, and also with industrial companies including Orange, HP Labs, France Telecom R&D, Channel 4 and Ordnance Survey.