The Mercy Of Data
Installation, 2020
Created in collaboration with Kaja Poestges, @vimeo
The Mercy of Data functions as a living metaphor that materialises real time dynamics of the social media platform Twitter. The installation consists of a closed system containing a plant and an automated maintenance structure that regulates water, air, and light.
Using the Twitter API, specific hashtags are assigned to each of these vital elements, directly determining the plant’s living conditions. Whenever one of the designated hashtags appears, it activates its corresponding component lamp, pump, or fan.
The work interrogates the fetishisation of online media platforms and the social and psychological dependencies they generate. By outsourcing the three fundamental requirements for life to a live Twitter data stream, the installation transfers agency from human caretakers to a digital network. Every tweet containing the keywords #water, #air, or #light becomes an active intervention within the system.
As the sole force capable of influencing the plant’s survival, the social network assumes an almost divine role. The plant’s life is ultimately placed at the mercy of data.
