Home InspirationArt Obsessed by data: 5 questions to Andrea Graziano

Obsessed by data: 5 questions to Andrea Graziano

by HDA Paris

Andrea Graziano

1. Blogger, researcher, artist, coder, architect…how would you describe and define your job and your projects?

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” ― Albert Einstein.

It’s hard for me to describe and define myself and my activity, especially in the last years. I would consider myself as a modern explorer, a person who really likes to imagine future possibilities (from science to philosophy, from art to biology) and to connect the acquired dots on a map (resources, people, skills, technologies, tools) to design new potential trajectories.

It is all but designing possibilities, not products. It is about triggering discoveries in very different fields. That’s why at Co-de-iT we are engaged in very different projects and really believe in a multidisciplinary approach.

Cocoon EVO is a project by Co-de-iT and Mediterranean Fab Lab - building partner: TEKLA STYLE

Cocoon EVO is a project by Co-de-iT and Mediterranean Fab Lab – building partner: TEKLA STYLE

2. Your Co-de-It Facebook page is under « Artists » category. What are the boundaries between code, sciences and art? Would you say that you use an artistic approach to design?

In the age of complexity, it is very weird to think and talk in terms of categories. Boundaries are blurring and different fields merging together. Art becomes the substrate of science and vice versa. Science is asking for more creativity – I think it’s a creactive process in itself –  as art is progressively using science (biology, material science, etc.) as a tool and a medium of expression. I think design is a highly creative process. It is about connecting a wide panorama of different resources in order to develop a serie of possible trajectories both for a specific problem and bottom-up approach for exploration and research.
DATA OBSESSION by Andrea Graziano

3. DATA OBSESSION is the title of your next lecture in Paris. Are you obsessed by data?

« The basis of the universe isn’t matter or energy … it’s Data » James Gleick – WIRED

All the nature processes are based on information exchange. Information flows everywhere : through wires and genes, through brain cells and quarks.
When you start to look at reality through this point of view, then your « data obsession » starts.

4. Do you like architects ? 😉

Mmm … hard to say, actually. I would say that I like what architects could be in the next future.
For sure, I don’t like what architects (or what is generally considered an architect) are now.

5. Ask you your favorite question without giving the answer.

I’m a man of questions more than answers. Questioning everything is the base of my daily activity.
That’s why one can considers I use a scientific & artistic approach : in art and science nothing can be considered for granted!


Andrea Graziano is one of the co-founder of Co-de-It, a network of heterogeneous clusters whose main interest is the impact of computation as a design medium in creative disciplines. He is considered one of the most influential computational designer of his generation, especially for his visionary approach to data-driven design.
Andrea Graziano will be in Paris in May for the DATA BODIES workshop organised by Superbelleville Coworking.
In this occasion, Andrea will give the lecture DATA OBSESSION at École d’architecture de la ville et des territoires à Marne-la-Vallée.
The lecture is open and free.
Details and registration here.

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