ICC

"The Secret Lives of Numbers"
2002
Golan LEVIN
photo: KIOKU Keizo
This work collects the use frequency and the patterns of the numbers from 1 through 100,000 over the web, and presents the statistics as a dynamic interface. By dragging a mouse, we can see how the use patterns of numbers reflect our society, culture and history.
Our world is composed of numbers. We tend to handle numbers as inorganic objects without paying them much attention. However, when we statistically analyze and visualize the use of numbers based on huge amounts of data, the world looks different. Based on the decadal system, deriving from our ten fingers, this work statistically collects integers from 1 through 100,000 that have appeared on the web after 1997, classifies them according to popularity, and displays the results, in order to show that the numbers reflect history, social phenomena and human behaviors, and that a usage pattern is determined somewhat inevitably. This work also searches and displays phrases and existing proper nouns that are associated with these numbers. Please try and see the patterns and secrets hidden in the numbers.

You can experience the online version of the work.
The Secret Lives of Numbers
As an artist and engineer, Golan LEVIN has envisaged new interactive expression and thus produced various works and systems. He particularly excels in designing sound and imagery-related user-friendly systems, which users can operate freely to be involved in creation or performance.
Crawler
"Crawlers" are programs that automatically collect specific information out of the vast amount of data distributed and accumulated every day via the Internet. After the mid-1990s, artists who focus on networks have developed unique crawlers (search methods) in order to materialize their own concepts. By regarding the information over the Internet as "material" and editing it, they have obtained a new means of visualizing things and information that we usually cannot perceive or recognize.