Conference presentation Body Politics of Data  by Alexandra Joensson at SIREN Conference on Arts & Digital Practices, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland,  29-31st May 2017.

Abstract:  Joensson’s PhD research The Body Politics of Data explores the role of collaborative and artistically driven approaches to understanding the social aspects of data driven surveillance and agency. The research explores forms of ‘counter-visualisations’ techniques, such as life-drawing database and vegetable printing to create processes to reflects on at what positions of power are nested in databases and accompanied scientific and precise types of visualisations.  Focused on the how’s and why’s of data production in the context of maternal health, the research seek to explore how the metrics for monitoring, costing, and prediction of health shape the experience and practices of birth. 

The research address intersectional feminist questions of boundaries, consent, affect and ethics, questions often marginalised in the context of the digital, and uses art practice to question the perceived ‘neutrality’ of technological vision, and unpick the forms of domination are emerging through the digital.