A practice across digital media
Aaron Koblin is an American digital media artist whose work includes data visualization, crowdsourcing, interactive film and virtual reality. He led Google’s Data Arts Team from 2008 to 2015 and co-founded the virtual reality company Within with Chris Milk.
Projects and collaboration
His Flight Patterns project received a National Science Foundation visualization award in 2006. His work is represented in collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou. He received the National Design Award for Interactive Design in 2014.
How to approach it
Begin with a single project and identify its inputs: data, individual contributions or recorded material. Then examine the choices that turn those inputs into an experience. What becomes visible, and what recedes? This approach keeps the design decisions available for inspection and avoids treating technical novelty or institutional recognition as a complete assessment of the work.