A strata-based approach to discussing artistic data sonification

Much discussion surrounding data sonification for musical and artistic purposes focuses on seeming contradictions that arise from the ways in which this practice differs from that of data sonification as a scientific tool. Over the past 30 years, this debate has become a rabbit hole of questions and arguments, regarding the nature of music/sound-art and data sonification, and of their relationships with one another. In the following article, the authors identify three areas/classifications of artistic sonification using a ‘strata’ metaphor, with the hope of bringing clarity to this discussion, and enabling some reflections on the nature of science-art collaborations using this approach.