Janne Lias

• How are you?
• Tutor: Oliver Laas, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

“How are you?” is a common, everyday question, but it confuses me. How do I know if this is a real question or just a phrase that a person used to greet me instead of hello. It is also difficult to judge whether I am doing well or not, because the concepts of good and bad are also confusing.

While studying for a master’s degree, I started a self-study project. Every day, I answer nearly a hundred questions about my personal well-being. I was interested in data art and made several attempts to create works from my data. Finally, I built a website that generates the exact answer to the question “How are you” based on the data I have collected.

• Wanderer above the sea of data
• Tutor(s): Oliver Laas, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

The written part of the master’s thesis gives an overview of my self-research project and my attempts to create data art using the data collected during the project. To explain the background of my practice, I write about related topics such as data, data art and self-study.