Laurie Frick, Imagined Time, 2008-2011. found cut and handmade paper on panels, a series based on the memory and experience of time. 54 in x 72 in - 72 in - 96 in. Courtsey of the artist.

Laurie Frick, Imagined Time, 2008-2011. found cut and handmade paper on panels, a series based on the memory and experience of time. 54 in x 72 in - 72 in - 96 in. Courtsey of the artist.

 

Big Data

by Ariel Yelen

 

Someone tells me
It’s our basic
Information boiled
Down to numbers
I’ve never been interested
In big
Data was never something I was good at
Knowing seemed to bind me
To the emotional cavity of my self
Worth was to be hard won I never
Knew numbers no
Are we worthy
Time of my birth
Four-thirty A number
Confirmed by few
I’m breath or
No breath Number
One or number two
Or zeroes
Lining the coil
Rope laid down to rest
Cables full
Of everyone’s desires Stretched
Out on the ocean floor
Most of the time
I’m a waiter
Big Data knows me when
Which is to know me
Now and always
Which is to
Know me when
I’m refilling syrup
Counting cash
Or piercing olives
With toothpicks Isn’t this
What we’ve wanted
To be known now
And always yes
Well no Well only as much
As we can stand I sit
Down on the steps
In the back
Of the bar
As often as I can
I’m numbers
As I’m tending
Bar My desires
Boiled and sending

 

Published March 15th, 2020

Ariel Yelen’s poems and critical work have appeared or are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, BOMB, Conjunctions, Washington Square Review, The Felt, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn, and works as the Associate Editor for Futurepoem, where she also edits the blog futurefeed.

Born in Los Angeles in 1955, Laurie Frick received an MBA from the University of Southern California, an MFA from the New York Studio School, and attended NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). With her understanding of engineering, tech, neuroscience, and fine art, Frick's practice examines the impact of data on human beings. Her analogue approach to exploring the digital frontier makes data tangible, visceral, visual--and therefore more knowable. Frick has given talks at Google, Standford, SXSW, and TEDx, and she has had her work featured in The Atlantic, NPR, BBC News, Wired Magazine, the LA Times, New Scientist Magazine, and Huffington Post. Her numerous residencies and awards include Samsung Research America in San Jose, YADDO in Saratoga Springs, Neuroscience Research Center at the University of Texas, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Facebook in Austin Texas, the American Academy in Rome, and most recently at the University of Rhode Island in Providence. Additionally, Frick's work has been shown at Gallery Shoal Creek in Austin, the Robert Steele Gallery in New York, the Edward Cella Gallery in Los Angeles, Marfa Contemporary, Oklahoma Contemporary, Texas Biennial, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Texas State University, and the NYU Langone Medical Center, among many others.