Giorgia Lupi
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Giorgia Lupi's second visualization for RAND Art + Data focused on the “Internet of Bodies” (IoB). This new category of technology has the potential to fundamentally transform our relationship with ourselves, our health, and others we interact with.
Lupi's goal was to educate the viewer about IoB technologies and their potential effects, while also “artistically evoking the future 'data ecosystems' that will surround us when these technologies are employed at huge scales.”
Explore the research behind this piece Learn more about Giorgia LupiThis visualization was inspired by the iconic 1977 film, Powers of Ten, created by legendary design duo Charles and Ray Eames. In that work, the viewer is taken on a journey from the smallest unit of life (a single cell) to viewing an entire galaxy, highlighting the interconnectedness of life on earth at all scales.
Lupi's piece raises similar questions about how perceptions of the human body will be transformed with and through IoB technology, which by definition is “smart” and wirelessly connected via the internet.
In “Internet of Bodies: Our Connected Future,” information designer Giorgia Lupi's visuals evoke the future “data ecosystems” that will surround us when IoB technologies are employed at huge scales.
IoB devices can track, record, and store users' whereabouts, bodily functions, and what they see, hear, and even think. These devices vary greatly in how they are used—some are freestanding, such as infusion pumps and sensor-equipped hospital beds; others are wearable, such as health trackers and prosthetics; and others are implanted, such as cardiac devices and ingestible digital pills.
To help illustrate the function of different IoB technologies, Giorgia Lupi designed a series of device cards.
The Internet of Bodies is an ecosystem of internet-connected devices that monitor the human body and collect personal biometric data. Despite its potential to offer revolutionized medical treatments, improved physical performance, convenience, and even fun, the Internet of Bodies is still an inconsistently regulated space that poses cybersecurity and other risks. RAND research explores such tensions—and considers what can be done to balance the risks and rewards of these emerging technologies.
Giorgia Lupi is an information designer and partner at the international design consultancy Pentagram. In her practice, she challenges the impersonality of data, designing engaging visual narratives that reconnect numbers to what they stand for: stories, people, ideas.
Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and her TED talk on her humanistic approach to data has over one million views. She has published two books, Dear Data and Observe, Collect, Draw! A Visual Journal.
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