Data Visualization – 2053 (Evelyn)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY&feature=emb_title

2053 is a project by a man named Isao Hashimoto that visually displays all of the nuclear explosions on Earth between the 1945 Trinity test up to the 1998 Pakistan nuclear tests. Since the project started in 2003, the project had access to records from all of the nuclear nations about their previous nuclear tests, including the location, date, and nation. These act as the individual data points for the project, which are put onto a world map with a color corresponding to the nation at the correct time.

I think the presentation of this is so effective due to a few factors. First, the existential threat of nuclear weapons makes this a scary topic. However, the video is strangely cold, and takes a very detached view of these things. There’s no noting that any difference between nukes used on Japan and the nuclear tests, just computer beeps and the slow metronome-like ticking of the timer. Of course, the viewer knows that these are nuclear explosions, and the schism between the lack of impact in the video and our knowledge of what these mean in the real world creates a strong impression. Is this how these people view nuclear weapons? The ending is also quite effective, essentially making a heat map of how much of the world would be affected if every nuke went off at once. Spoiler alert: the entire western seaboard doesn’t exist anymore. I really liked this project, and am curious if this team has done anything else.