Otto Neurath, born in 1882, was an Austrian philosopher of science, a sociologist, and a political economist. Reactionary political forces saw him flee his native country for the Netherlands in 1934, and the Nazi invasion of Europe led him to flee to England in 1940 where he eventually died in 1945. With roles as a Politian, university lecturer and museum founder he produced a number of exhibitions throughout his life that allowed large groups of people to gather, learn and ultimately organise goals and interests. The exhibitions took place in town halls and museums in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, where they were accessible to the public.
Neurath designed the exhibitions to be interactive, aimed at engaging the spectator. They used a range of visual media such as lantern slides, charts, photographs and models, in order to make their ideas accessible. In the process of representing statistical data, Neurath sought new and innovative ways to keep the information interesting and understandable. He, and a group of his assistants ‘the transformers’ 2, developed a language of iconic sign symbols, which became known as the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistic (renamed the ISOTYPE in 1935)’. The transformers had an important role of translating the collected data of the scholars to the graphic artists who made the marks on the paper. 3 These ISOTYPEs were inspired by military cartography and based on maps from the Renaissance and Enlightenment. 4
Chapter_02: Literature Review
Data Visualisation: Otto Neurath “[Neurath] believed that iconic sign systems could stimulate the intellect and imagination in a way that letters and words alone could not. They could be read by a variety of classes and nationalities, which made them ideally suited for a multiethnic urban citizenry.” 1
The work of Otto Neurath highlighted the importance of visual communication as a means to illustrate societal issues. It showed how new and innovative The exhibitions collected statistical data about ways to represent statistical data, the use of a variety various countries, and the world, and portrayed of media to translate ideas, and an ultimate goal of them in new and innovative ways that were visually wanting to make people aware of global and political understandable. Neurath’s work was aimed at the issues could give the public power to understand and working masses and sought to foster political change take control of their lives. through social and cultural education.
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