Artistic research · Selected publications

Research
through artistic systems

Shareefa Al-Maqtari’s research operates between data art, generative systems, visual perception and artistic practice. It investigates how measured phenomena can become modular structures while preserving a traceable relationship with their source data.

Current art–research

Manuscript in preparation · 2026

Portraits
of Attention

Shareefa Al-Maqtari

Portraits of Attention investigates how the same visuospatial attention dataset can generate distinct visual structures through different modular arithmetic configurations. Developed through MAGS, the study brings together eye-tracking research, computational processes and artistic decision-making.

The research lineage began with an initial hybrid drawing proposal published in 2015. The doctoral study developed this foundation further and introduced DRS as a modelling framework in 2019; this research trajectory later informed the development of MAGS.

Research areas: Data art, generative art, visuospatial attention and modular systems
Dataset: Eye-tracking measurements
System: MAGS
Outputs: Addition, subtraction and multiplication studies

View the artworks ↗

Research directions

Measured Phenomena

Exploring visual, human, natural, cultural and social phenomena through measured data.

Modular Generative Systems

Developing traceable computational structures in which numerical relationships become compositional rules.

Artistic Translation

Investigating how research can move across moving images, prints, immersive environments and future sculptural forms.

Selected research

2026

Modular Arithmetic Generative System for Creating Data-Driven Art from Visuospatial Attention Data

Shareefa Al-Maqtari

Research article · Submitted to Leonardo · 2026

Research article presenting MAGS as a rule-based generative framework for transforming visuospatial attention and eye-tracking data into traceable visual structures.

2021

Logistic Role for Fine Art Sustainable Creative Industry ↗

Rafeah Legino, Shareefa Al-Maqtari, Jalaini Abu Hassan & Shahriman Zainal Abidin

Journal article · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Vol. 11, No. 9

Research gap: Fine art logistics was an emerging and under-researched field in Malaysia, with limited collaborative spaces, specialist services and niche-market strategies connecting art education to the creative industry.
Research question: How can collaboration among art students, universities, third-party logistics providers and niche-market actors strengthen fine art activities within the sustainable creative industry?
Outcome: The study proposed an integrated digital platform for fine art logistics to support collaboration, develop specialised services and create new professional opportunities for fine art graduates.

2019

A Hybrid Portrayal of Visuospatial Attention through Eye Tracking Research and Modular Design ↗

Shareefa Abdullah Ahmed Abdulmalek

Doctoral dissertation · Visual Arts · University of Malaya

Research gap: There was no established artistic modelling approach for translating experimentally measured visuospatial attention into pictorial structures while maintaining a rational relationship with the source data.
Research question: How can eye-tracking research and modular design be combined to transform visuospatial attention data into a hybrid visual portrayal?
Outcome: The study developed and applied DRS as a modelling framework, translating fixation measurements and numerical relationships into structured line-based visual compositions.

2015

A Hybrid Model of Drawing: Pictorial Representation of Visuospatial Attention Through an Eye Tracking Research and Numerical Logic of Lines ↗

Shareefa Abdullah Al-Maqtari, Ruzaika Omar Basaree & Rafeah Legino

Conference paper and book chapter · International Colloquium of Art and Design Education Research (i-CADER 2014) · Springer

Research gap: Invisible phenomena such as visual attention, movement, sound and time remained difficult to translate into pictorial form through a clear and rational visual structure.
Research question: How can eye-tracking data, theories of attention and pictorial representation, and the numerical logic of lines be combined to propose a new drawing model?
Outcome: The paper proposed an initial hybrid drawing model for portraying visuospatial attention and anticipated installation artworks as an alternative approach to representing invisible perceptual phenomena.

Complete research recordORCID 0009-0003-7716-7650 ↗