Artist Laurie Flick takes data on her daily life and transforms it into art

Take a look at Laurie Frick’s artwork, made up of colorful wooden blocks mounted to the gallery wall, and the first thing you think of is a childhood playroom strewn with building blocks. But Frick’s artwork is actually a complex response to the growing trend of self-tracking. She takes data collected by tracking her daily activity and turns it into hand-crafted visualizations in materials like wood and leather.

Frick calls her art "data selfies" — abstract self-portraits that reveal volumes about their subjects. But they aren't creepy. They're cheerful and optimistic, because that's how Frick sees the future of data. In her art and in frequent talks, she spreads her mantra: “Take back your data. Turn it into art.”

"I’m predicting this data is going to come together with the world of art, that art is going to be a way that you see yourself and you see your own data," Frick says. "And that will turn into things that look hand-built in the spaces that you live."

While many observers imagine dark scenarios for the future of data collection, Frick welcomes it. "Take back your data" is more about ownership than privacy. "I’m not saying your data doesn’t need to be private," Frick says. "But I’m saying that data collected about you is inevitable. How can that data come back to me in a way that actually makes something good for me?"

Laurie Frick's exhibit Who Are You? What Day Is It? is on view at Pavel Zoubok Gallery through July 25.

This story first aired as an interview on Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen.