STUDIO JORDAN SHAW

You Had to Be There... investigates data as material—not merely as information to be processed, but as a tangible substance that carries the weight of human presence and technological mediation. This series transforms the invisible electromagnetic landscape into physical paintings, making visible the ephemeral traces of our digital existence. Each work functions as an archaeological record of a specific moment in time and space, capturing the ghostly imprints of wireless signals that permeate our urban environment.

The conceptual underpinning centers on the notion that data, like any material, has texture, density, and temporal properties. Bluetooth packets—those brief handshakes between devices—become raw material for exploring how our technological aura shapes and is shaped by our physical presence. The work questions what it means to "be there" in an age where our presence is simultaneously physical and digital.

This investigation treats data as a living substance that accumulates and stratifies over time. Like geological sediment, each layer of captured signals builds upon the previous, creating a palimpsest of human activity. The paintings become time-bound echoes of collective presence, archives of proximity that exist only because "you had to be there" to generate them.

The materiality of acrylic paint and oil sticks becomes crucial to translating digital ephemera into physical presence. Acrylic serves as the foundation layer—immediate, decisive, responding to the raw geometry of real-time data projections. Oil sticks provide the organic overlay, their waxy texture creating raised surfaces that catch light and shadow, mimicking how electromagnetic waves propagate through space.

Each painting begins with a specific timestamp—a moment when Bluetooth packets were captured at locations like The Junction or The Bentway in Toronto. I paint this initial data slice in swift acrylic strokes, then advance the timeline several seconds and overlay a second layer in oil stick. This process creates a visual archaeology where past and present coexist, where invisible signals that surrounded us moments ago become visible beneath current signals.

The layering technique emphasizes the ephemeral nature of digital presence while creating lasting physical traces. Oil stick maintains the integrity of each temporal layer while allowing subtle interaction between moments, speaking to the density of our electromagnetic environment—sometimes sparse, sometimes overwhelming, always in flux.

The paintings originate from site-specific data collection using a custom iOS/React Native application that records Bluetooth packets in real time. RSSI readings and device IDs are logged with precise timestamps, creating a digital score that maps signal density and proximity over time.

This data feeds into a Node.js and p5.js pipeline that visualizes each temporal slice as geometric abstractions projected onto canvas. The projection guides the initial acrylic layer, translating signal strength into color intensity and device proximity into spatial relationships. As I advance the timeline, subsequent projections inform the oil stick overlays, building a chronological record of electromagnetic activity.

Raw-steel frames reinforce the industrial nature of the data source while providing structural support for the layered paint surfaces. Each work is anchored to its specific coordinates and timestamp, functioning as both artistic object and documentary evidence of a particular moment in our connected urban landscape, where cold precision of network data becomes humanized through the warmth of physical gesture.