Latent Spaces. Performing Ambiguous Data (2021-24) was an arts-based research project on the datafied contemporary.

Our starting points are the concept of the latent space – the (technical / conceptual) realm in which different possibilities co-exist before one (or more) is then realized – and of ambiguity – the state in which different valid readings co-exist within a system of meaning.

The practice of “performing” in the project’s subtitle refers to the fact that knowledge is generated not only through critical reflection and academic publications but also through artistic interventions/creations in a wide range of media and formats

Value of ambiguity

In this project, we take data to be inherently ambiguous, that is, full of meaning to be decided upon, with an array of valid possibilities co-existing within “latent spaces”. This ambiguity is produced and processed in every segment of the data pipeline, from the moment of data collection (or better, data creation), to the output of data-analytical processes, and everything in between. Drawing on the strength of artistic practices, we take this ambiguity as something productive because by understanding meaning in data as open, by exploring how technical issues are unavoidably also social and cultural ones, which always also includes values and interests, we can begin to think about ways of negotiating this complexity. Artistic field studies and transversal approaches

The research unfolds through four artistic field studies and two transversal approaches. The first two studies probe what is usually called “raw data”, here location data as it is emitted from beacon signals and from GPS systems, the latter two probe black boxes of data processing in social media. What all four have in common is that they use performative means to engage with and articulate the particular type of ambiguity of data in their respective field settings. The transversal approaches are data science and media theory. Both collaborate closely with the artistic field studies by providing their specific tools but they also learn from the artists’ ability to articulate ambiguity for their respective fields.

The project is structured into four artistic field studies.

and two transversal approaches working with and across the artistic field studies

  • Media Theory (Felix Stalder, project lead)
  • Data Science and Machine Learning (Alexandre Puttick )

Funding and Institutional Setting

This project is financed by SNF (grant #100016_200971) and hosted at the institute for contemporary art research (ifcar) , Department Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

Main Outcomes

Publications

Sollfrank, Cornelia, and Felix Stalder. 2025. Contemporaneity in Embodied Data Practices. The Contemporary Condition. Berlin: Sternberg Press.

Christensen, Michelle, Florian Conradi, Cornelia Sollfrank, and Felix Stalder, eds. 2025. Re/Embodied Data. Ambiguities of Knowing. Hamburg: Adocs.

Janša, Janez Fakin and !Mediengruppe Bitnik, eds. 2024. (Un)Real Data [Wolke] - [Eiswürfel] Real Effects. Ljublijana: Aksioma - Institute for Contemporary Art.

Stalder, Felix adn Savičić, Gordan. 2025. “From Environments to Infrastructures of Survival. The Case of the Northern Bald Ibis.” GeoHumanities.

Sollfrank, Cornelia. 2025. “Breathing Data. The Art of Self-Quantification,” in Critical computing. Mit Relationen rechnen, Ulrike Bergermann and Irina Raskin (eds.), meson press.

Niederberger, Shusha. 2023. „Calling the User: Interpellation and Narration of User Subjectivity in Mastodon and Trans*Feminist Servers“. A Peer-Reviewed Journal About 12 (1): 177–91. https://doi.org/10.7146/aprja.v12i1.140449 .

Schubert, Olga and Carmen Weisskopf & Domagoj Smoljo (!Mediengruppe Bitnik), in conversation with Felix Stalder. 2024. “Curatorial Research – Opacity and Criticality from the Inside. Technology, Trans-Cultural Encounters and the Planetary Scale.” Journal of Artistic Research, https://doi.org/10.22501/jarnet.0074

Niederberger, Shusha. 2024. “Wie Infrastrukturen User machen. Mastodon und Feminist Server.” insightOut. Journal on Gender & Sexuality in STEM Collections and Cultures, # 2. Diverse Infrastructures? Gender, Queer & the Foundations of Society https://doi.org/10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.7 .

Stalder, Felix. 2023. “Statistics is shifting from making statements about what is true to making statements about what one should do.” A conversation with Justin Joque. Latent Spaces Website. (June) https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/statistics-is-shifting-from-making-statements-about-what-is-true-to-making-statements-about-what-one-should-do-conversation-with

-> Full list of publications
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/publications

Art Works

Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird
https://bird-map.net

1 ⭐ Review Tour (2023-)
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/node-2-one-star-review-tour

Archive of Daily Digital Disobedience (2024-)
https://dailydisobedience.net

-> Full list of Artworks
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/art%20works

Exhibitions

Unreal Data, Real Effects.
Aksioma, Ljubliana, Feb 26- June 25, 2024
3 Exhibitions, 1 conferences, 4 podcasts, 1 book
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/unreal-data-realeffects

Can You see me Now.
AIA, Zurich, Oct 8, 2022 –Jan 31, 2023
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/exhibition-can-you-see-me-now

-> Full list of Exhibitions
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/exhibition

Conferences and Events

Re/Embodied Data. Ambiguities of Knowing
Berlin, June 20 2024 https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/save-the-date-20-06-2024-embodied-data-ambiguities-of-knowing

Conference: (un)real data ☁️ - (🧊) real effects
Aksioma, Ljubliana, Feb. 27, 2024
Aksioma, Ljublianahttps://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/conference-un-real-data-real-effects

-> Full list of Conferences and Events
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/event

Main Presentations/Performances/Workshops

Sollfrank, Cornelia and Puttik, Alexandre. 2024. Data Cyborgs: A Partially Algorithmically Generated Embodied Conversation Between Three Different Logics. Performance.\ https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/breathing-data/data-cyborgs

Savičić, Gordan, and Stalder, Felix. 2023. “Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird”, 37 Chaos Computer Congress, Hamburg
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/general/presentation-at-the-chaos-computer-congress-37c3

Niederberger, Shusha. 2024. Digital disobedience. Publics, infrastructure and artistic intervention. Lecture, Bern
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/userdata/digital-disobedience-publics-infrastructure-and-artistic-intervention

-> Full list of Presentations
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/talks

-> Full list of Workshops
https://latentspaces.zhdk.ch/workshops