VizChitra 2025

Describe your talk/session in 2-3 paragraphs

What happens when data moves - and moves you back?
For almost two decades now, I’ve been making sense of the world with my hula hoops. It started when I was 6, a way to hold on to something familiar as my parents moved us back to India from the US. Over time, hooping became my space to feel, learn, and understand my emotions. I’ve found joy and pride in unlocking new tricks, and built resilience through failing and regulating anger!

During my Master’s, my hoops began to speak math to me! While practicing a balance trick, I noticed the hoop, my palm, and my gaze were forming an inscribed triangle. I was also exposed to embodiment theory and the politics of data - how context is queen, how data isn’t neutral, and the beauty of partial perspectives. Data Feminism’s third principle - Elevate Emotion and Embodiment became foundational and through that, I found the idea of data visceralization.

That’s where Spinfinity was born, my program for kids to experience abstract concepts through the body. Especially in math sessions, I started experimenting with assessment through drawing: students mapped shapes, patterns, and paths instead of computing numbers. The goal was to help them create their own “dear data” style drawings of what they understood.

Soon, I saw hoops and learners speak to each other; students started spotting sine waves, planetary orbits, and their increase in resilience and skills too! One of my long-exposure LED hoop photos revealed a klein bottle (a 4D Object) to a friend of mine, and string theory to another! The hoop was showing us secrets of the universe.

Over time, I realized how naturally my hoops were communicating data and bringing abstraction to life and how deeply this felt like data visualization. I started exploring further, with programmable poi (a flow prop like hooping, which spins images in the air). I wasn’t sure what to do with it exactly, until I spoke to Gurman. She shared two insights that clicked:

1. Qualitative data has quantitative data in it - it’s about finding the right attributes.
2. The suggestion of starting with the reds and blues of climate data in the programmable poi

So I went for it! I used Laban movement analysis to define expressive movement attributes. I programmed my poi with climate data using the red-blue climate stripes visualization. And I’ve designed a short 3 minute performance around it, an experiment in communicating the urgency of climate change through the body that I wish to perform live at VizChitra, as part of this talk!

In summation, I’m proposing a talk about my experiments and journey of Data Visceralization with my hula hoop, along with a 3 minute Climate Stripes Performance.

(Sharing a short 20s rough video of the performance just to give a glimpse. The speed, movement quality, and programming are still evolving!)

Mention 1-2 takeaways from your session

• The power of Data Visceralization - how movement and embodiment can be powerful tools for data storytelling.
• A process/framework to map movement practices to data and information → can be used for performances and creative learning assessments. Art is intelligent and communicates information!

Who is the audience for your talk/session?

• Data storytellers and designers who want to explore new ways of showing data beyond visuals
• Movement practitioners who are curious about how their art can tell data stories
• Educators looking for creative, body-based ways to teach big ideas
• Science and math enthusiasts open to seeing their subjects with a spin
• And anyone who enjoys finding connections, patterns, and meaning across different fields

Add your bio, including work place name and your job role

Aditi is on a mission to put a spin on education through flow arts, blending science, math, and emotion in motion. She founded Spinfinity to help learners experience abstract STEM concepts through body-based movement and embodied learning.

With a Master’s in Human-Centered Design and a B.Tech in Computer Science, Aditi applies her multidisciplinary approach to learning sciences. As the Inschool Program Manager at SPOT – School for One, she creates transdisciplinary learning experiences that include flow arts, 3D printing, origami, and systems thinking. She is also a professional fire performer!