Data visualization has become omnipresent. “diagrams,” an exhibition by AMO/OMA at the Prada Foundation in Venice is a timely contemplation on the infographic medium: “One of the appealing aspects of diagrammatic representation is its aura of objectivity, regardless of whether a diagram actually represents truth or another form of fiction. I consider myself fortunate to use that aura effectively,” Rem Koolhaas points out. Taken to an extreme, architecture is, at its inception, a diagrammatic representation of reality.

Graphs and diagrams have enjoyed authority as being “universal” and “scientific.” However, as the sociologist and pioneer of modern infographics Otto Neurath observed, it is a means of visual advocacy and education, or advertisement. To Neurath, a successful infographic is read in four steps: At first you see the most important points, then less important ones, third, details. At last, there is nothing more to see, otherwise the “teaching-picture” is bad.

“diagrams” presents a cross section of fascinating originals, from the first schemes of the human body, through cartography and architecture drawings to modern analyses of sociological data. This allows a comparison across decades: a juxtaposition of Joseph Minard’s scheme of the losses of the Napoleon’s army during the Russian campaign, William Playfair’s diagrams of commercial history, W.E.B. Du Bois’s schemes of racial segregation or Le Corbusier’s study for La Ville Radieuse. Enshrined in precious vitrines and sophisticated book design, this collection in its multiplicity compromises its advocacy effect and brings only limited insight into the typology of visual strategies: Is the museum the proverbial cemetery of ideas?

Luckily, the current biennale demonstrates the vitality of infographics. Embedded in exhibition display it reveals unexpected insights into the built environment: The project “Resourceful Intelligence” by Politecnico di Milano is an extremely effective analysis of the potential of urban mining of existing building stock in Milan and “Re-leaf” by MIT City Lab showcases spatialized histograms of a metropolitan density of trees globally, both presented at the Arsenale. 

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