Data portraits one

Non Liquet ( i t

i s

n o t

c l e a r )

@ l o u o b o y l e

Non Liquet (it is not clear)

Louise O’Boyle 2018

Introduction The works produced and featured in this publication were created over a six week duration, with many uploaded daily as part of The SketchUp Residency during March 2018.

I wanted to demonstrate, explore and record the fluid impact of data on the self as a form of narrative. While also reflecting on the fetish straits associated with self-tracking practices. Do these generated narratives really inform our understanding of our lived experience? How do concepts & terminologies around personal data make sense?

This body of work is entitled ‘Non Liquet’. A term that originates in Roman law and literally translates into English as ‘It is not clear’. It refers to a complex legislative situation where a court cannot reach a clear decision on a case due to the absence of suitable law or the injustice of the legal consequences.

“The question of whether or not a judge is allowed to declare a non liquet is rooted deeply in both legal and political theory, and the different answers given reflect various natural law and positivist schools of thought.” * The complexity of data and information available and continuously generated about us and our environments can depict an intricate and unceasing thread of discourses rather than conclusions. So what is there to see?

*Fastenrath, U., Franziska, K. (1991), Lücken im Völkerrecht: Zu Rechtscharakter, Quellen, Systemzusammenhang, Methodenlehre und Funktionen des Völkerrecht, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.

Portrait of the Artist as a Data Self

Data Portrait 01: Lists Activities were monitored over a four week period & recordings translated into this visual model.

Obsessed cyclical actions

Restrictions & Barriers: Lists Self-made and self-imposed

Drone Locket

Drone Locket: Lists Pattern & texture studies built from key memories always present

Gold Prayer Wishes False Hopes Stories Deceit

Self Locket: Reflections & of personal thoughts

explorations unfiltered

Golden Luck Locket: Creating ordered studies from random viewpoint.

Exploring data.

patterns

in

&

with

Glass Locket: Everything n o w.

is

Then there wallpapering cracks.

a

bit is over

clearer the the

#datamisuse #dataportraits #datavisualization #findmeaning #datamisrepresentation #qualifiedself #quantifiedself

Human experience, run through the quantification mill, is reduced to little more than a stream of silent mind-numbing bytes Morozov E. (2013) To Save Everything Click Here London: Allen Lane

If you can’t control the button, the button will control you Nelson, T. (1975) Computer Lib / Dream Machines. Selfpublished.

#IBelieveHer Final Locket created as part of t h i s re s i d e n cy, m a d e i n response to feelings of utter d e s p a i r, sickening a n g e r, frustration and injustice.

Especially after reading the words of those in Ulster rape trial.