Publication date: 17.05.2024

The installation Datament was first presented at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2023. It is the result of a collaboration between sculptor Anna Barlik, architect Marcin Strzała and curator Jacek Sosnowski. Datament is a record of the dialogue between art and architecture. The installation, which is based on work with data, is intended to become a starting point for a discussion about the fact that although new technologies cannot offer us ready-made solutions, they can help us ask better questions.

Architecture is one of the fields where data analytics has emerged earliest and is highly visible - in most places in the world, construction is highly normalised. As we experience architecture, we also experience the information used to design it. In the Datament exhibition, housing was therefore used to demonstrate the nature of data, and basic living spaces were taken as a natural point of reference for the viewer.

For the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, as much data as possible was collected on housing worldwide. An algorithm was developed to analyse them and generate statistical models of homes. Four of these are presented, representative of different levels of data saturation: from Hong Kong, Malawi, Mexico and Poland. The algorithm then overlaid them to match the shape of the installation to the exhibition space of the pavilion.

Statistical data was used by the project authors to materialise housing standarts from different areas of the Earth. Their choice was determined by fundamental differences in the amount of data produced by each region. The first example is Hong Kong, marked in blue. The record number of sim cards coincides in this case with a large overproduction of data of various types. Anna Barlik's idea was to show this specificity using two levels. This part of the installation allows for a change of perspective when viewing the sculpture and alludes to the illusory belief in the objectivity of statistical data. Another space is designated by the red construction - it describes data on housing in Poland. This section is a representative example of a developed, European country. The digitisation of public life, which is responsible for much of the data produced, is important in this case. The green colour distinguishes the information on Mexico, which represents the South American area. The average area of a flat in this area is very even, at 130 square metres. The data error here is due to analytical assumptions. Mexican favelas are not counted in the study, which clearly shows the subjectivity of the data. The last example illustrates Malawi, a country located in Africa, which is among the regions with the lowest data production. At the same time, the country is one of the few in the region that collects housing statistics.

The neologism Datament in the title denotes the ubiquitous 'data establishment' constantly shaping the reality in which we live, create and inhabit. "We share the world with data. Believing in their infallibility, we allow algorithms to calculate and design homes and cities. Bypassing the sensitive and informed designer, however, digitally processed data creates distorted solutions such as those presented in the Polish Pavilion," note the installation's authors.