Personal Space

Abstract

An online artwork connecting individual experiences to live space weather data. For the initial stages of the containing exhibition TETTT, 22 daily “prompts” in the form of keywords and phrases encouraged participants to write regular accounts of their life experience. The text on the screen is continually refreshed from over 500 of these intimate accounts and recollections. The central panel shows two measures of live “space weather”: 1. intensity of geomagnetic activity: the Kp index; 2. extent of the solar wind in AU (Astronomical Units). These data are used to filter the text according to intensity of language and modify the display in real time. The eight surrounding panels of text are refreshed according to the numerical order of the Chinese mathematical “magic square” of three, known as the Lo-Shu, historically used to lend order to cultural activities. This provides a connection between the impersonality of space weather and the very personal narratives. The central panel—usually allocated to “Earth”—displays live space weather, the colour of the rotating sun reflecting its current intensity.