Artolution is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of collaborative art to strengthen communities experiencing crisis. Co-founded by artists Joel Bergner and Max Frieder, the group organizes and helps facilitate community-based public art programming in partnership with local artists, educators and humanitarian organizations in locations around the world, including refugee settlements in Bangladesh, Colombia, Jordan and Uganda. Projects such as painted murals, theatrical performances and virtual exchanges provide a platform for people to come together and creatively explore their experiences and the challenges they face.
Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi and team have created a pair of data visualizations for Artolution’s 2021 annual report that explore the group’s evolution and impact over the past five years. The animated map and timeline dynamically illustrate the breadth of its projects. By growing from one ongoing regional program to five by the end of 2019, Artolution has positively impacted the lives of more than 6,000 of the world’s most vulnerable people.
The Pentagram designers worked with Artolution to define and generate data sets that would help describe the scope and reach of the projects, including their size, duration and themes they address, such as peacebuilding, gender equity and environmental sustainability. The timeline advances along a winding path that suggests the projects are part of a movement making its way around the world. The data are represented by different colors and graphic elements like lines and dots.
The impact map highlights various programs with blooms of color appearing in the locations where Artolution has worked around the world. The circles grow with hand-drawn marks inspired by painted brushstrokes, and a timeline appears at the bottom of the map. The data visualizations will help Artolution with fundraising as it continues to expand its reach.
