On October 23 from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., the Code for Princeton will present the Data and Art Hackathon at the West Windsor Arts Council.

The day-long event will include the development of civically beneficial projects as well as free workshops on how to make circuits on paper and 3D printing demonstrations. Keynote speaker Steven Fragale, researching artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Digital Media Lab, will speak at 5 p.m. on the intersection of technology and art. At the end of the day a panel of community representatives will review the projects and offer feedback.

This summer and fall, the West Windsor Arts Council’s programs have been organized to explore a variety of topics related to the growing, national and educational emphasis on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) including an exhibition, a play, and classes and camps.

“When I heard about Code for Princeton and their Hackathons, I was immediately excited and intrigued by the idea of introducing art into the mix. The visualization of data is a key component for the communication of ideas and problem solving, and this is an area to which artists can contribute significantly,” said West Windsor Arts Council’s Executive Director, Aylin Green.

“Code for Princeton essentially is about the community and the coming together of diverse skills, individuals and perspectives. At the art hackathon, where we #hackforart, we will recognize the importance of art in building strong and balanced communities as well as a balance between both left and right sides of the brain.” says Hema Malini Waghray, Director and UX Researcher for Code for Princeton.

The day will include pre-selected projects, each with a coder and an artist team leader. These leaders will discuss their projects in advance in order to set some basic parameters in which to work. Then, during the event, pre-registered and walk-in artists, coders, or enthusiasts of all ages are invited to join them to move the project forward. A few of the projects are ongoing from previous Code for Princeton Hackathons, however new topics have also been proposed.

The projects include: “Water Toxicity” – Create visuals based on water toxicity levels in the VR 360 environment; “Arts in the Everyday” – Using data from “A Survey of Arts in Everyday Life (2002)” examine involvements of individuals in informal art activities like community theatre, church choir, or painting portraits in a home studio; “GIS Self Segregation” – Visualize the self segregation patterns in West Windsor neighborhoods; “Data-Mining from Online Forums” – Using a data crawl on breaking news or twitter news to understand how and by what means news is actually “created.” and more.

For more information about the event including a schedule of events, info about artists, coders, projects and registration, visit www.westwindsorarts.org.