The Open Data Institute (ODI) sees the creative use of data as an intrinsic and essential part of our cultural landscape. As part of it’s ongoing operations, the it has an Art Programme committed to facilitating artists in the exhibition and creation of works which translate data into something that is meaningful to people’s lives. Artists use data as an art material in many ways: materialising them physically, sonifying them to amplify natural phenomena, coalescing them to create new realities. They question how objective the treatment of data is, and how much truth do we expect from an artwork with statistical roots? And we are asked to consider whether it matters. If we accept that there is dogma in the artists code, do we accept that it plays a part in other code too? Often at the critical edge of technological debate, artists are redefining how we perceive data and how it affects and reflects our lives. This presentation will showcase art curated for the on-going Data as Culture programme, from concept through the development process to the final work, and present findings on how the art programme has impacted the ODI, its visitors and its staff. By Julie Freeman