The Lung Cycle: Transplant for Life with Greg Niemeyer

Hybrid Event - Virtual & In-Person 
October 25, 2024
5:30 pm Pacific Time
Registration

Stanford Health Library
211 Quarry Road, Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94304

How does it feel to be in the lowest percentile group for life expectancy? When data artist Greg Niemeyer faced the need for a life-saving double lung transplant, he experienced first hand the massive gap between the medical statistics of survival and his determination to live. In this talk, Niemeyer will bridge that gap with data visualizations, animations and sonifications that pair the cold, hard and linear medical data with the more cyclical experiences of crushing fear, resilience, love and healing that come with most any serious medical journey. 

Niemeyer’s goal is to visualize health as a rich and nuanced cycle that charts both body and soul. The cycle does not only include the patient, but also the donor, the patient’s family, friends, doctors, nurses and community. We don’t live and love for ourselves, we live for each other. Following this presentation, Niemeyer will be joined by Dr. Steven Hays, a member of the UCSF transplant team that worked to give Niemeyer a second life. Together, they will address audience questions about transplant life from multiple perspectives.

Greg Niemeyer, MFA, is a data artist and Professor of Media Innovation in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley. He's the former director and co-founder of the Berkeley Center for New Media.

All Niemeyer's works are data-driven: Large datasets and data streams are raw materials for visual and sonic experiences. They act as mirrors, reflecting to us what we don't see about our essential resources (air, water, care) from novel points of view. These patterns hold the hope that we can learn something new about what is to come and that we can evolve from the impossible present to more possible futures.