Exhibition July 3 – August 1, 2015
Artist Reception Friday, July 24, 7–9pm
Bad Data Therapy Saturday, July 25, 12–5pm

ASC Projects, 2830 20th Street, Suite 105, San Francisco

Scott Kildall, 18 Years of San Francisco Evictions, 2015 | Water-jet etched Aluminum Honeycomb | Data source: The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and the SF Rent Board

ASC Projects is pleased to present Bad Data, a new media exhibition by Scott Kildall. The exhibition opens on July 3 and continues through August 1, 2015. An artist  reception will be held on Friday, July 24, 7–9pm, with additional programming held throughout. More information on events and schedules can be found at ascprojects.org.

Bad Data is a series of data-visualizations in the form of aluminum wallworks created by Bay Area digital artist Scott Kildall. Over the course of several weeks Kildall mined “bad” data—meth labs in Albuquerque, evictions in San Francisco, and worldwide UFO sightings —from GitHub repositories, and other assorted websites. He then wrote custom software code to generate digital files which he etched onto aluminum honeycomb panels using a high-pressure water-jet machine.

Where some sets are “bad” in the shallow sense of the word—such as “Missouri Abortion Alternatives”, which are actually just religious organizations—others display a deeper sense of moral ambiguity, political polarization, or social corruption, such as global internet data breaches or the locations and size of every prison in the United States. Additionally, the effect of the water-jet machine is unpredictable, creating gaps and fissures in the aluminum material, mirroring the flaws in the selected data itself.

The misleading, culturally poignant, and scientifically questionable datasets highlighted by Kildall’s wallworks reflect a rupture in our cultural fabric and pose the question of what truths data can really show.

Scott Kildall is cross-disciplinary artist who writes algorithms that transform various datasets into 3D sculptures and installations. The resulting artworks often invite public participation through direct interaction. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the New York Hall of Science, Transmediale, the Venice Biennale and the San Jose Museum of Art. He has received fellowships, awards and residencies from organizations including Impakt Works, Autodesk, Recology San Francisco, Turbulence.org, Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, Kala Art Institute and The Banff Centre for the Arts.

Interested in content-driven work, ASC Projects promotes and exhibits artists pushing boundaries of scope, scale, medium, venue, and dialogue, and offers programming to facilitate conversation, professional enrichment, and collaborative projects. An artist-run space, ASC Projects is a project of A Simple Collective.

/// EVENTS

• Friday, July 24, 7–9pm: Artist Reception
• Saturday, July 25, 12–5pm: Bad Data Counseling & Therapy Sessions: drop-in therapy session by Kildall counseling visitors on personal bad data