In June 2023, Domestic Light launched with a deceptively simple question:
What is the color of home?
What began during a period of global stillness has since grown into a planetary experiment—one that traces the shifting hues of daylight and presence across continents, seasons, and domestic windowsills. With custom-built, multispectral light sensors placed in homes around the world, the project has recorded the spectral fingerprint of natural and artificial light every ten seconds, in ten channels beyond human vision.
Now, two years in, the project marks a major milestone. Thanks to the contributions of collaborators across five continents, Domestic Light has assembled an unprecedented dataset—one that captures not just ambient illumination, but the poetics of time and care.
Here’s where we are today:
- The full web portal remains live and active through March 2026.
- A preliminary version of the dataset and tools is available to network participants, supporting access in Python, JSON, and CSV formats.
- A full, curated version of the dataset will be published in an upcoming special issue of Leonardo/ISAST.
- Physical instruments—capable of re-playing this spectral data as light—are in final testing.
- In 2026, Domestic Light will culminate in two immersive 240-light installations, premiering in San Francisco and Brighton, with live performances by collaborators including composer Pamela Z.
Most importantly, this work continues to grow as a shared experiment in perception, technology, and artistic research. In the months ahead, we’ll be sharing additional tools for dataset access, inviting proposals for new works and public programs, and continuing to support creative engagement with the data infrastructure we’ve built together.
To everyone who has hosted a sensor, offered feedback, shared a story, or held the question of light in your home… Thank you!!!
More soon.
