Data Art 2026 Exhibition Showcases Student Innovation

Bringing together data science and artistic practice, the 2026 data-art exhibition (Signals) explored the rhythms, patterns, and meanings embedded in the data that shapes everyday life. Through a diverse range of visual and interactive works, students transformed complex datasets into compelling artistic experiences that invite reflection, emotion, and engagement.

The Signals exhibition builds on previous explorations (2024, 2025) of data as narrative by shifting attention towards movement, connection, and flow. The exhibition highlighted how streams of information pulse through environmental systems, digital networks, and human experience. 

Curated by Professor Jonathan C. Roberts, the exhibition is the culmination of a year-long creative and analytical process. Students from Computer Science, Data Science, Creative Technology, and related programmes developed original pieces by selecting datasets of personal or topical interest, experimenting with artistic influences, exploring different ways to display the data, and implementing their designs using Processing. They looked at climate records, gaming histories, social behaviour, and personal experiences, transforming them into visual artworks.

This process is rooted in authentic learning, encouraging students to engage with real-world topics and communicate insights to a public audience. The resulting works highlight how technical expertise can be combined with creative inquiry to produce artefacts that are both informative and evocative.

Data Art: Signals demonstrates the remarkable ability of our students to turn complex data into meaningful and engaging experiences. This year’s exhibition shows how data is not just something we analyse, but something we can feel and connect with. The creativity, technical skill, and personal insight on display are exceptional, and it is inspiring to see how these emerging practitioners are pushing the boundaries of visualisation.

Professor Jonathan C. Roberts, Curator of Data Art 2026 Exhibition

Award Winners

This year’s exhibition recognised several outstanding student works:

Best in Show was awarded to Jake Phillips-Davies for Our Solar System in its Smaller Bodies. The piece visualises small Solar System objects through dynamic representations of orbital length and brightness, revealing hidden structures such as the asteroid belt, Trojan swarms, and the Kuiper belt. The work was praised for its clarity, elegance, and ability to make complex astronomical data both accessible and visually striking.

Runner-up honours were awarded jointly to:

• Isabel Thomason for A Year in Weather, a richly detailed radial spiral visualisation encoding daily weather data from Valley, Holyhead. Through colour, motion, and glyph design, the piece conveys seasonal shifts and atmospheric variation across the year.
• Demsey Sansom for Evolution of Power: A 25-Year Journey Through the Pokémon Trading Card Game. This radial work visualises over 18,000 cards, revealing long-term trends in game mechanics through scale, colour, and structure.

These award-winning pieces exemplify the exhibition’s central theme by showing how data can signal change, tell stories, and evoke a meaningful response.

Highlights from the Exhibition

The exhibition features a wide range of innovative projects, including:

• The Weight We Carry by Hamzar Akhtar, visualising student stress through glowing constellations
• Galactic Console Sales by Bryn Angell, reimagining gaming markets as a solar system
• Steam Galaxy by Dyfan Nesbitt, mapping thousands of games as a galactic formation
• Bangor Energy Pulse by Salman Ahmed Dogar, revealing sustainability patterns across campus
• Mapping My Reading History by Sam Williams, transforming personal reading into a networked visual structure

In addition, staff and PhD researchers contributed works exploring topics such as social welfare networks, weather patterns, global wellbeing, and local population dynamics, further enriching the exhibition.

Hosted at Pontio, Bangor University’s Arts and Innovation Centre, the exhibition welcomed visitors from across the community, including students, researchers, and members of the public. The opening event on Tuesday 12 May 2026 marked the beginning of a vibrant showcase of creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Data Art: Signals reinforces Bangor University’s commitment to innovative teaching, research-led practice, and public engagement. By presenting data as something that can be seen, felt, and experienced, the exhibition encourages audiences to rethink their relationship with the information that surrounds them.

For more information about the Creative Visualisation module and future exhibitions, please visit the School of Computer Science and Engineering website. and the Data Art 2026 website.