Data Heartbreak

Data on the consumption and generation of information comes as no surprise: while every second sees 6,000 new tweets, 740,741 WhatsApp messages sent and 694 Instagram posts published, new reports tell us that the human attention span gets shorter every year (currently standing at 8 seconds).

We have more information than ever, information which is growing at an unprecedented pace, and we’ve lost our capacity for concentration, attention and analysis. This is the source of an anxiety that translates into apathy and inaction.

These ideas are at the core of Data Heartbreak, an experience that reflects on the importance of data in an era of infoxication. An immersive piece where the digital content we generate is turned into the light of disinformation.

As part of the experience, visitors were asked to answer three questions through Whatsapp, sending a voice message that would become integrated as part of the soundscape of the artwork. The audio messages allowed the public to have a more personal connection with the technology and information overload, contrasting with the objectiveness of the data-based visuals.

When thinking about the future it's as important to dream and push for affirmative approaches, as it is to be critical of the hard realities that can affect our future in a negative sense. The future we want to live in relies entirely on the steps that we take today to shape it. Data Heartbreak, in that sense, is much more than an immersive experience, it is the start of an important dialogue that needs to happen in the search of a better, more human tomorrow.