DatartefactDatartefact
Datartefact is an ongoing research and creation project that started in 2022 when I discovered the concept of "datasculpture" through the work of artists Loren Madsen and Adrien Segal online. As an amateur ceramicist and open data enthusiast, I started developing craft projects to represent series of data about rivers and environmental history using clay, and I started a research notebook to document my process.
Eventually, my research led to discovering the dataphys.org wiki and the dataphysicalization research community, as well as conducting short interviews with other data-sculptors. My vision grew into a more ambitious platform and editorial research — one that would go beyond the representation of contemporary data in material forms. I wanted to develop a historical, trans-disciplinary and empirical approach that would allow datartefacts to be considered as an anthropological category of objects: part of a long technical tendency that pre-dates what we now call 'data'.
In 2025, the idea of writing a series of books emerged, with a first publication for Book 1 scheduled for the Fall of 2026. The website will also be enriched later with interactive tools and an index to explore 'datartefacts'.
This is a fully independent, self-driven and self-funded project. I'm always happy to hear from artists, designers, teachers, researchers and crafters who enjoy this topic as much as I do — please reach out for any feedback, comments, or data-art suggestions.
Anne-Laure Freant
Obsessed with blogs and information architecture online since the age of 14 and an early website made in 1998, I have always hesitated between becoming a journalist, an academic, a blogger, a photographer, an editor and a designer.
I work in tech for more than a decade now, occupying various positions from technical content curation to editorial consultant for public digital services, and now, API technical writing and developer portal management. I am from France and have lived in Canada for a few years, done an incredible year of vineyard work in New Zealand, and have moved to Spain last year with my daughter and partner.
Datartefacts — Women + Data Zürich
An online talk about the project, its origins, and the continuum of data-visualization and data-physicalization practices.