We are incapable of perceiving the large-scale system changes of our contemporary circumstances. Therefore, we model and seek understanding of complex issues, like pandemics and climate change, through abstract data and mediated by its visualisations. Approaching the world becomes a diagrammatic experience. In my talk, I’m asking if and how we can conceptualise such large-scale if not planetary diagrams – or better cosmograms. What diagram does the earth hold for us? And how can we learn to read it?

Paul Heinicker is a design researcher investigating discursive design concepts with a focus on the culture and politics of diagrammatic representations and data visualisations. His practice covers image-led research as well as written analyses. He is a PhD student at the University of Potsdam at the Institute for Media and Art and research associate at the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam. He has an interdisciplinary background in multimedia technologies (B.Eng.) and interface design (M.A.) and participated in post-graduate programs at Malmö University and the 2nd year of The New Normal program at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow.