The objective of this study was to understand the way three established working artists/designers/sculptors use mega-data in their work producing or manipulating 3-D visualizations. The three data visualizers were Bathsheba Grossman, Stephen Cartwright and Mitchell Whitelaw. Each artist has mined different data category sets and has worked with large data banks to produce works whose aim is to humanize the information not just to inform the general public but to aid professionals in understanding the phenomenon visualized.

This study identified three axes. Cartwright who has collected years of personal tracking data interprets it through stationary and kinetic sculptures permitting us to identify similarities in our own lives to and in his activities. Whitelaw’s interests have led him to begin to visualize large archives, historical data sets and museum collections in an effort to make these collections accessible to the public. Grossman’s sculptures range from microscopic to galactic, from multi-dimensional to theoretical computer-generated visualizations.

What this study has revealed is that although data visualization is as old as cave paintings, the explosion of data as a result of the computerization of it has created an untapped source of sculptural forms to be discovered.