Data Through Design is:

Art: Projects in our annual DxD exhibition creatively analyze, interpret and interrogate data made available in NYC’s Open Data Portal. With art's capacity to capture the human experience, DxD  surfaces hidden stories, disrupts widely accepted patterns, and questions claims to objectivity of data-driven narratives.

The City: Through data we see the people, the systems, the parts and the structures that make up NYC. DxD engages, reflects, and animates NYC’s open data, helping us to see ourselves in the data and connect individuals to the collective organism of the city.

Complicating: Artistic engagement with data complicates rather than homogenizes stories to explore the human experience; celebrating and employing all its nuance and outliers to activate the story

Open + Inclusive: We celebrate the diversity of our city and are committed to supporting a wide diversity of voices and reaching a diverse audience. All who are interested are invited to explore and participate. 

Transparent: All of the City’s people and environments are represented in the data and likewise it belongs to all of us. Transparency is inherent in Open Data, making it accessible and empowering us to use it for change.  

Humanizing: Creative interpretations bring the esoteric world of data into the human world of the city.

Support and Opportunity: for artists to explore new territory, push boundaries and create. DxD brings artists, their projects and an engaged audience together.

A Collaborative Collective: of organizers who bring a range of backgrounds, skills and experiences to the project. Fueled by our own interests and passions we partner with artists to look beyond convention into new ways of interpreting data.

Data Through Design is an independent collective which organizes an annual art exhibition featuring works that creatively analyze, interpret and interrogate data made available in NYC’s Open Data portal, a valuable civic resource aimed at increasing information access and transparency. The exhibition opening is a highlight of New York City’s Open Data Week which is hosted by the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) Office of Data Analytics and BetaNYC.

Each year a different theme is developed to challenge artists to surface hidden stories, patterns and connections in data, to examine its shortcomings, and to question claims to objectivity that data representations project. These novel and artistic creations harness the potential for data to enliven and deepen our understanding of life in the city.

We commission 7-10 projects for each exhibition in a wide range of media and formats. We provide artists with limited financial, technical, and design support. Featured projects are created by artists, activists, software engineers, graphic designers, architects, urban technologists, map-makers, and other creative practitioners; all working with the city’s open data sets.

Contact us: dataXdesignNYC@gmail.com

Data Through Design is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization via The Fund for the City of New York's partner project program.