Data and documentaries: Methodological hybridizations in activism

Abstract

Hybridization permeates all fields of communication: documentaries are no exception. One example is The Left-to-Die Boat by Forensic Architecture (FA), an audio-visual account of how 63 refugees lost their lives in 2011 when their ship was adrift in the waters of Libya. The Left-to-Die Boat combines documentary techniques with data analysis and visualizations to expose a tragedy, change migration policies and sustain court cases. Based on critical data and documentary studies, this article inspects the methodological hybridization proposed by FA in six documentaries. The questions are: how does FA hybridize? What are the outcomes of this hybridization? What is hybridization today? The analysis links these documentaries’ characteristics with functions and outcomes, offering a taxonomy that can be employed beyond this study. The findings indicate that activism is taking multidimensional forms, blurring the boundaries separating documentaries, data science and art in search of impact.