Data Deluge was a multidisciplinary group exhibition that presented a selection of sculpture, furniture, painting, photography, video, sound and works on paper by artists who shape Web-based and software-generated data into art. The exhibition, curated by Rachel Gugelberger and Reynard Loki, takes its name from the title of a 2010 special report published by The Economist that observed the emergence of “a new kind of professional…the data scientist, who combines the skills of software programmer, statistician, and storyteller/artist to extract the nuggets of gold hidden under mountains of data.”

Data Deluge featured work by Rebeca Bollinger, Jon Brunberg, Anthony Discenza, Scott Hug, Loren Madsen, Michael Najjar and Adrien Segal. All the work in the show was a visual representation of a body of data ranging from the development of the world’s stock market indices and terrorist-related deaths to national water use statistics, and male responses to photographs of women in online chat groups.

New site-specific commissions by Jennifer Dalton, Roberto Pugliese and Anna Von Mertens tapped into the unique characteristics of Marfa and the surrounding landscape, with a sensitivity to minimalist forms, local weather conditions, the tourism industry, and oil. Through various approaches and with different sensibilities, the artists in Data Deluge presented innovative modes of data visualization and uncovered the often unexpected beauty of information.

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