The Open Data Institute (ODI) arts programme Data as Culture harnesses the critical and unexpected voices of artists in response to ODI’s research. The current research and development programme looks at sustainable data access and building trust through certification, and creating data infrastructure for common challenges.

Rules of Engagement is curated by guest curator Antonio Roberts who was inspired by the numerous scandals involving data towards the end of the 2010s. The artist’s work will be integrated throughout the ODI Summit 2020 – Data | Futures and online.

Commissioned artists Nick Briz, A.M. Darke and Everest Pipkin interrogate the systems that have allowed unethical use of data. Through their work, the artists ask important questions that all of us should be considering, such as why could there be mistrust in current data practices or should data collection even be considered in the first place and who are the people or communities impacted by data misuse.

The artists have taken a very open approach, exposing ‘black-box’ AI systems, showing what technology says about us; challenging people who work with data and those who are subjects of systems that use data to reflect on their own biases, which may influence how data is used and collected.