PRICE
€ 425 - if you are working for a company
€ 299 - if you are working as a freelancer
€ 150 - if you are a student
All prices are excluding the Eventbrite fee. Prices are including lunch (2 days) and breakfast (final day).
FOR WHO
The workshop is suitable for anyone who wants to present data in interesting, exciting, and revolutionary new ways. The workshop is open for professionals who are completely new to the field or have a ton of experience but need fresh energies in the world of data visualisation.
It is also for those who seek a different approach, and want the extend their creative skills.
PLANNING
August 4 & 5, 2025
All-day programme, including opening exhibition on August 5 and breakfast on August 6.
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Data Vandals Exhibition Workshop
Join the Data Vandals for a workshop turning everyday objects into data art provocations and performances. In this hands-on workshop, participants will collaboratively create a Data Vandals exhibition focused on community conversations and data activation. The theme for the exhibition will be about the relationship between the environment, technology, and city living.
This will be a whirlwind of activity, as participants will join the Data Vandals & Graphic Hunters to collaboratively draw, build, write, design, and perform their take on the data. Every aspect of the exhibition will be created by the participants in just 2 days, concluding with a public opening. We promise it will be an amazing, chaotic, and even dangerous adventure in data activism!
During this energetic workshop, you'll explore creative ways to use data to facilitate meaningful interactions within your organization and community. These skills can be applied professionally to ideation sessions or help you inspire your organization in fresh, engaging new ways. For social or artistic projects, you will experiment with unusual tools to energize your thinking and reveal new insights. No matter your goal, this workshop will transform the way you communicate and activate data!
Skills learned:
- Creative Data Visualisation: Transform raw data into compelling visual artworks.
- Real-Time Audience Engagement: Design methods to attract and interact with the public, collecting data live.
- Physical & Tactile Data Objects: Experiment with crafting data into tangible, interactive installations.
- Storytelling & Communication: Translate data into provocative narratives and experiences.
- Rapid Prototyping & Improvisation: Quickly design, build, and adapt interactive projects collaboratively.
- Activism Through Data Art: Discover and express your personal activism through creative data practices.
Content
Monday, August 4
- We are the Data Vandals! - We will show examples of the Data Vandals work with an emphasis on the approach and handling of data through a variety of materials. We reflect on lessons learned through community activation and gallery & museum exhibition design.
- Getting to know each other - Participants introduce themselves.
- Exhibition ideation (eg "unconference") - We review and discuss the data we collected on the environment, technology, and the city of Utrecht, then begin to generate ideas through a series of activities.
- Getting Started - Participants break into small teams to begin researching and sketching ideas on paper. The Data Vandals will coach, encourage, and discuss ideas with each team.
- Group discussion - We convene as a group to show off our progress and ideas. As ideas converge and diverge, we begin to develop the focus of the exhibition.
- Exhibit design - Participants continue the design of their team project. The focus becomes making a more detailed sketch of the artwork/performance.
- Group discussion - We convene as a group to show progress and discuss. We continue to map out the overall exhibition.
Tuesday, August 5
- Good morning! - The focus will be on building, collecting, and generally making artwork. Participants will draw, paint, get dirty, saw things, buy stuff from shops, etc. This will be wild and fun!
- We regularly meet as a group to check in, show progress, and identify any challenges or problems.
- Exhibition installation begins - While some teams continue to create their works, others begin to install the objects in the exhibition space. Things will be getting more intense by now!
- 5pm call - OMG we are DOING this thing! We should be at the last mile and have to collaboratively complete whatever needs to be done for the opening.
- 6pm opening - Open the doors and welcome our exhibition guests! Be mindful of conversations about and the collection of the data!
Wednesday, August 6
- Breakfast retrospective & Cleanup! - Let's meet for a chill breakfast to debrief on the workshop and opening! We'll discuss what went well, what didn't go well, and what we would do differently next time. Then we'll clean up the exhibition and give each other high-fives!
Trainer
(Photo by Mark Shaw)
Data Vandals is an initiative by Jen Ray and Jason Forrest.
Our society looks at the world through data, but data doesn’t have to live in a dusty database, it can come alive on city streets, galleries, museums and parks. The Data Vandals present data in interesting, exciting, and revolutionary new ways, stopping people in their tracks and making them want to learn more.
Multidisciplinary artist Jen Ray presents performances, paintings, and sound works that celebrate female confidence and self-determination.
Jason Forrest is a data visualization and design expert working at the intersection of business, culture, and data.