Self-tracking cycling data as representations of landscape

ABSTRACT

The representation of landscape has changed considerably in the arts since the nineteenth century. From the grand and sometimes fantastical paintings of the apocalyptic sublime, to the more topographically correct contemplative sublime; from the concern for light over form in impressionism, to the intensity of colour saturation in post-impressionism; from emotive expressionism to the fractured abstraction of cubism; from its evaporation in abstract expressionism and dematerialisation in conceptual art to its reclamation in walking art; from photographs taken on journeys, to objects found along the way; from words that capture a sense of place, to films that immerse us in those places; from room sized panoramas to virtual reality CAVEs. This paper aims to map out a contemporary typology of landscape representation. Specifically, it attempts to locate self-tracking data art as a new form of landscape representation, one that traverses a spectrum of imagery, from isomorphic representations of real places, through objective mapping of experience and on into the realm of abstracted subjectivity. In doing so it positions the author’s own work within this wider context along side other artists that are engaged is similar practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Landscape
• self-tracking
• data art

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Shaleph J. O’Neill is a Senior Researcher/Lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), University of Dundee, who has worked on a number of interaction design projects that explore user sense making processes and creative activities (BENOGO, EU Presence Initiative, IST-2001-39184; Leonardo: Culture Creativity and Interaction Design, EPSRC GR/T21042/0; Making Sense of Creative Interactions, EPSRC F053029/1; The Arts API Project, Nesta Digital Research and Development Fund). His expertise lies in the area of semiotics and creative computing. He is author of Interactive Media: The Semiotics of Embodied Interaction (published by Springer, 2008). His research focus is to better understand the relationship between creative people, creative processes and creative technologies.

ORCID

Shaleph J. O’Neill http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5588-5702