Ideas
Where the thinking happens.
Ideas is the running record behind the work: the talks, workshops, exhibitions, interviews and essays where the thinking happens in public.
My path has run through music, art criticism, software and data, and the same thread goes through all of it. I connect with people through history and culture, build a community around it, then make something new. Nightingale gave that a magazine, Data Vandals took it onto the street, and JFA brings it to the organizations that have to decide something. This page keeps growing as new people, projects and stories join it.
Upcoming
UpcomingWorkshopSchool of Visual Arts, New YorkData in Public Spaces — a 3-day Data Vandals workshop15-17 OCT 26New YorkUpcomingTalkNortheastern University CAMDMedia in Motion II: Shaping AI for Critical Creative Futures29 OCT 26BostonUpcomingTalkHarvard Kennedy SchoolGuest lecture at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolNOVEMBER 2026Cambridge, MA
On view now
Past
PastNewsWhat's next: fall 2026UPCOMINGSEPTEMBER 2026PastInterviewLeff Communications“Data is in the eye of the beholder”: a conversation with LeffAUGUST 2026PastNewsThe Ray Family Story: a thousand pages of handwriting, turned into a graphJFA · DATA HUMANISM · RAYFAMILYSTORY.COM2026PastNewsOld Maps of NYC: stand still and move through timeDATA VANDALS · TOOL · FIELD TRIP2026New YorkPastEventKick It in the Park, Los AngelesLA Loves: 2,700 stickers at the World Cup watch parties11 JUN – 19 JUL 26Los AngelesPastInterviewMcKinsey Alumni News“Making data too human to ignore”: a profile in McKinsey Alumni NewsJUNE 2026PastTalkThe Newsstand, 51st & LexHow do you have a conversation with a city? NY Tech Week at the newsstandJUNE 2026New YorkPastEventThe Newsstand, 51st & LexNew York City's 401st birthday, in the subway24 MAY 26New YorkPastWorkshopInner-City Arts, Los AngelesArts Datathon, Los Angeles29 APR 26Los AngelesPastWorkshopNYC School of Data, New YorkNYC School of Data: sketching and polling with the open-data crowd28 MAR 26New YorkPastTalkSchool of Visual Arts, New YorkDesigning Trust: Creating a Future Where Data Connects UsDECEMBER 2025New YorkPastWorkshopNYU, New YorkTalking to the community through data: NOAHCON 2517 NOV 25New YorkPastTalkComplexity Science Hub, ViennaVisualizing Complexity Science: a guest talk in ViennaAUGUST 2025ViennaPastWorkshopMOME, Budapest20 m² of green data: MOME Open, Budapest21-22 AUG 25BudapestPastWorkshopCentraal Museum, UtrechtLiving Spaces: an exhibition built from nothing in 48 hours4-5 AUG 25UtrechtPastTalkGordon Research ConferenceVisualization for Impact: the Gordon Research Conference at Bates CollegeJULY 2025Lewiston, MainePastWorkshopCanva HQ, LondonData That Moves Us: a Guerrilla Data Lab at Canva HQ10 JUL 25LondonPastExhibitionLondon Data WeekThe Great London Survey: a tuk-tuk, eight questions, 500 Londoners7-11 JUL 25LondonPastNewsCrankstart, San FranciscoStreets to Stability: making San Francisco's homelessness system visibleAPRIL 2025San FranciscoPastWorkshopBRIC, BrooklynGuerrilla Data Lab: 60 minutes at BRIC for NYC Open Data Week30 MAR 25BrooklynPastInterviewObservable“All data visualization is a dialogue” — an interview with ObservableDECEMBER 2024PastWorkshopArtCenter College of DesignHands-on dataviz workshops at ArtCenter11-14 NOV 24PasadenaPastExhibitionThe Cooper Union, New YorkNYC EATS: a 13-foot tower of how New York eats2024New YorkPastExhibitionThe Cooper Union, New YorkHello From The Data Vandals: a solo show at Cooper Union27-29 SEP 24New YorkPastNewsWeek one of the Jason Forrest AgencyJFA · ORIGIN STORYAPRIL 2024New YorkPastEssayMonroe N. WorkPioneer in Black data: Monroe N. Work and the Negro Year Book2023PastEssayAI draws a chartI asked an artificial intelligence to draw a chartJUNE 2022PastEssayThe Greater London PlanPatrick Abercrombie's "Greater London Plan"2022PastEssayHow to Solve ItHow to Solve It, and by it I mean anything2022PastEssayJulie MehretuReview: Julie Mehretu at the WhitneyNOVEMBER 2021PastEssayNew York Alive!NEW YORK ALIVE! Blending performance and data artMARCH 2021PastEssayWar and human natureWar and human natureJANUARY 2021PastEssayThe New DealThe influence of Isotype in New Deal information designOCTOBER 2020PastEssayTelefactsThe Telefacts of Life: Rudolf Modley's Isotypes in American newspapers, 1938–1945MAY 2020PastEssayIsotypeIsotype: an exploration in design2019–2021PastInterviewJohn Burn-MurdochHow John Burn-Murdoch's dataviz helped the world understand coronavirusAPRIL 2020PastEssaySoviet IsotypesExploring Soviet Isotypes: digitizing "The Struggle for Five Years in Four"APRIL 2020PastEssayMarie NeurathThe missing legacy of Marie NeurathJANUARY 2020PastEssaySoviet chartsData visualization in the age of Communism2019PastEssayCardew's Treatise"Treatise": a visual symphony of information design2019PastNewsNightingaleNightingale: founding the journal of the Data Visualization Society2019–2024PastEssayErnest Dudley ChaseDesigned and drawn with infinite care: the pictorial maps of Ernest Dudley ChaseAPRIL 2019PastEssayHilma af KlintHilma af Klint: visualizing the spirit worldFEBRUARY 2019PastNewsDesign + typographyDesign and typography: posters, type and identities since 1990SINCE 1990PastEssayW.E.B. Du BoisThe Data Visualizations of W.E.B. Du Bois: a six-part series2018–2019PastInterviewHank ShockleeHank Shocklee vs. Jason Forrest: an interview for XLR8RSEPTEMBER 2005
Nothing here yet.