Credit: Studio Richard Vijgen 2024
As you descend the stairs at the station into the central hall a panoramic screen shows a subterranean view of Delft. It shows a subset of around 30.000 soil analyses from Terraindex’s enormous collection of soil data.
The result is a view of Delft from below where each line represents a soil sample.
Moving through this data landscape you encounter clusters of soil findings. Some are natural such as sand or shells, others are man made such as asphalt, plastic or brick. The visualisation cycles trough a series of routes that connect these clusters. By following these routes you are presented with an ever changing view beneath Delft.
Highlight Delft and TerraIndex were looking for an artist who could use TerraIndex’s datasets to visualize the invisible of soil research, from groundwater levels to soil conditions and subsidence. Richard Vijgen, whose work revolves around artistic data visualization, proved to be the perfect match.
Gaze into a subterranean data panorama
About Richard Vijgen
Richard Vijgen (1982) is an artist and designer whose work focuses on artistic data visualization. He creates multi-sensorial data experiences that visualize the invisible technological dimensions of reality. His work provides poetical interpretations of data and proposes a dialog between the human perspective and the disembodied world of digital networks, algorithms and wireless communication.
Founded in 2009, Studio Richard Vijgen has been evolving into an experimental practice that explores new technologies, interactions and aesthetics to visualize the invisible. Richard Vijgen’s work has been exhibited in and collected by museums and art institutions across the world including Centre Pompidou, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Barbican Gallery, ZKM, Ars Electronica, Vitra Design Museum and Manifesta 12.
Through his work, Richard Vijgen has collaborated with filmmakers, artists, scientists, academic and commercial organizations to visualize and explore datasets on many topics.
Richard Vijgen lectures at the department of Art Design and Technology at ArtEZ school of Art and Design and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at art schools and universities. He has received a number of awards and prizes including the Dutch Design Awards, Prix Ars Electronica, European Design Award and S+T+ARTS. Richard Vijgen writes about data visualization and digital culture and has published articles in the Yale Architectural Journal, Volume Magazine, New Challenges for Data Design and the Parsons Journal for Information Mapping.
Studio Richard Vijgen is based in the Netherlands
Instagram: @richardvijgen
Website: www.richardvijgen.nl