The solar farm at SAS world headquarters is a treasure trove of data.

Jessica Peter, Senior User Experience Designer at SAS, had an idea about using that treasure in an art installation to show how data can tell a story. Her idea became a reality when she and others at SAS developed an abstract digital art piece that responds to the data from the SAS solar farm.

Here’s how it works: Using SAS^® Event Stream Processing, energy data is collected from the solar farm. After some data preparation and data mining, the data is fed into the digital art piece, which displays energy output, the time of day, and the temperature through different colors and shapes.

Peter partnered with SAS R&D and SAS artists in residence to create the abstract digital art piece that responds to data. The final 4 ft x 30 ft digital art piece demonstrates how art can help us understand data in new ways and how data can change not just what we see but how we see it.

Peter loved seeing her idea come to life, but the best part about this art project, she said, was “getting to know everybody who contributed. It was so much fun to do this because everybody brought something special to the project.”

Last week Peter showcased her art-ificial intelligence project video (above) in a main stage presentation at Analytics Experience.

Learn more about the SAS Solar Farm and the broader SAS environmental program.