“In 2008, I coined the term “data painting” to express the idea that data can become a pigment that reflects imagination... Machines are becoming part of our society, and now they’re in our creative practice as well. It’s a whole new world.” 
—Refik Anadol

"Bosphorus is a kinetic data sculpture that draws inspiration from nature with an attempt to question our capacity as humans to re-imagine natural occurrences in spaces where these occurrences are transformed into architectural and audio-visual experiences. The work explores the dynamic and dialogic connection between nature and human nature by showing us that we don’t realize the presentness of nature unless we are presented with a challenge that changes our perception of it.

 

Using high frequency radar collections of the Black Sea, provided by the Turkish State Meteorological Service, Bosphorus highlights the symbiotic interplay of technology, art, and nature in relation to humanity’s quest to push humanity’s quest to push the limits of experiencing nature. Our modes of representation and inquiry become a part of our natural world, reflecting and augmenting our perceptions of reality. In our quest for resolution, stories offer us a simulated environment that is in fact just as real as nature itself. The transformation of this sea surface data collection then becomes not just a means of visualizing information, but rather a transmutation of our desire for experience into a poetic visual."¹ 

 

 

 ¹The Artist's Studio Project Archive, online.