PROJECT: Pockets of Information

Claudia Berger (Sarah Lawrence College/Pratt) and Gabriella Evergreen (Pratt) created Pockets of Information: Community Care in a Speculative New York, a StoryMap as a companion to an in-person exhibit. Project of Information “imagines how data could be shared in the aftermath of severe flooding and climate change in New York City. It is a garment-based resource map inspired by WWII bomber jackets, which were lined with maps to assist pilots in case their planes went down. Instead it is a chore coat, a garment associated with care and maintenance, with the map on the exterior of the jacket so others can view and benefit from the information.”

The StoryMap was created for Data Through Design 2024, “an annual exhibition celebrating tangible and multimedia expressions of New York City’s Open Data. It provides space for creative engagement with data and new perspectives and understanding of its role in our society.” This year’s exhibit centered around the theme of Aftermath:

We live in a perpetual state of aftermath. The data we collect today represent reverberations of past events; edited, interpreted, and distilled to tell a story of history. Data drives our narratives and shapes not only the future but also our vision of the future — a narrative of us and where we expect to be. Who is telling that story, and how does the aftermath of events shape how it’s told?

This year, we invited artists to explore how data reflects (and does not reflect) these lived aftermaths and to interpret the idea of aftermath through data. How does data define and organize time and space in our articulations about the world? How has the past molded our present and how will we sustain our future? Will we drown in a flood of information or make meaning from the mess…?