Challenging contemporary notions on science communication, this project questions whether art can rank alongside more traditional scientific outputs. In an encounter between the tactile and the digital realm, the project seeks to ensure both appealability, accuracy and readability of data, inviting the beholder to engage with the information being conveyed.

Challenging contemporary notions on how scientific information is communicated and understood, this project questions whether art can rank alongside more traditional scientific outputs. This with a specific focus on the communication of research results from social sciences. In an encounter between the tactile and the digital realm, the project carefully explores how to craft an appealing data representation that ensures both accuracy and readability. This exploration currently resulted in a data vase, as a sculptural representation of a database. The vase incorporates actual data points that can be interpreted through investigation, using a digital guide. By sculpting the data, an attempt is made to materialize the underlying meaning-making mechanisms, hoping to influence the sense-making process of its beholder. The sculpture requires the beholder to be an active explorer. By stepping into the puzzling alternation between looking and reading, the data vase reveals more than its parts, uncovering hidden data narratives. While a legend is currently required for interpretation, future exploration will focus on minimizing reliance on textual explanations. In going beyond the common discrete ways of representing data in graphic shapes, the vase seeks to bridge the gap between science and art, inviting the beholder to engage and connect with the information being conveyed.