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Legal Networks: Visualising the Violence of the Law

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Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Cultural Computing ((SSCC))

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Abstract

Data visualisation techniques have been used as a means to critique society and in particular capitalism. The possibilities for interaction with data and its malleability in digital form make the internet an effective site for the technique. Art online that employs data visualisation is commonly approached in terms of the understanding that the data may bring and its aesthetic appeal. However, I propose that the impact of a work may also be engaged with in terms of the interface that it provides, which enables interaction with the data. In this chapter, I explore this possibility through an analysis of the artwork They Rule, which visualises data about legal relationships. I propose its interactive interface provides a context for accessing data in a way that directs attention to the contingency of the legal system that permits the generation of the data visualised. In the process, I argue that They Rule may be understood to invite a critical engagement with the constructed nature of social systems, such as the law, and how they seek to justify their foundation and maintain their validity.

This chapter is an updated and extended version of the following paper, published here with kind permission of the Chartered Institute for IT (BCS) and of EVA London Conferences: J. Pilcher, “Legal networks: visualizing the violence of the law.” In A. Seal, J. P. Bowen, and K. Ng (eds.). EVA London 2010 Conference Proceedings. Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC), British Computer Society, 2010. http://www.bcs.org/ewic/eva2010 (accessed 26 May 2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent scholar, London, UK

    Jeremy Pilcher

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  1. Jeremy Pilcher
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Correspondence to Jeremy Pilcher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom

    Jonathan P. Bowen

  2. Department of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Suzanne Keene

  3. School of Computing & School of Music, University of Leeds, Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM), Leeds, United Kingdom

    Kia Ng

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Pilcher, J. (2013). Legal Networks: Visualising the Violence of the Law. In: Bowen, J., Keene, S., Ng, K. (eds) Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5406-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5406-8_14

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-5405-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5406-8

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