DataMorph: Designing a Metaphorical Data Factory Provotype to Physicalise Invisible Data

• doi:10.1145/3803784.3816816

Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Creativity and Cognition

Data has emerged as one of the most powerful resources of the 21st century, yet the processes through which it is collected, transformed, and exploited remain opaque to the general public. While individuals continuously generate data through everyday interactions, they often lack understanding of how data is collected, by whom, and for what purposes. In this poster paper, we present the development process of DataMorph, an artistic provotype inspired by the metaphor of a data factory. It employs data physicalisation to render invisible processes and abstract data flows visible through a physical shape-changing form. Through this design provocation, we aim to foster critical reflection, public dialogue, and engagement with data practices, agency, and power. Lastly, we discuss various contexts in which DataMorph could be deployed.