Alternative Descriptions

Research Question: Is it possible to create data visualisations in which the process of editing and visually translating of climate data is not based on control, but rather on uncontrol, disorder and chaos, to highlight design’s role and responsibility in the climate crisis?

'Alternative Descriptions' uses lack of control or conscious uncontrollability to problematise control as a method in (data)visualisation. This follows from the realisation that design practices throughout time have focused on increasingly mastering the means with which they design and produce, on control of the content and data with which they work, on understanding the (theoretical) positioning of their work, and an increasing grip on the textual and visual media in which they express themselves about their work.

The need to question control follows a reflection on the role this strategy plays in the climate catastrophe. The control over nature, livestock, landscape and raw materials has caused the current crisis. Design is part of the larger process of production and use and as such is co-responsible for its effects. It feels uncomfortable and even inappropriate when designers use their usual strategies to develop solutions for this pressing issue without scrutinising their own methods.

The work of philosophers Timothy Morton and Bruno Latour has informed the project. Through Morton, it becomes apparent that the ecological crisis is not just a physical issue but also a matter of representation. The concept of nature itself can hinder our ability to address environmental challenges. Latour argues for the need of alternative descriptions of the world to be able to tackle the climate crisis in other ways. This experimental project in the field of artistic research focuses on such alternative descriptions, focusing on data visualisations from climate science, the field that first identified the climate crisis.

The project creates a series metavisualisations of historical climate science data, from long before the Club of Rome to the present day. First outcomes were shown at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam in 2022.

About the project

Alternative Descriptions. Part of the exhibition ‘It’s About Time’
Venue: 10th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam at Ferro Rotterdam
Dates: 22.09.2022 – 13.11.2022
Director IABR: Saskia van Stein
Curated by Derk Loorbach, Veronique Patteeuw, Léa-Catherine Szacka, Peter Veenstra
Research and design: Joost Grootens with Philipp Doringer, Julie da Silva
Research funded by the Royal Danish Academy
Inkjet prints, 8 banners / 380 x 100 cm each
Photography by Ernie Buts