DOMESTIC LIGHT

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Would you like to participate?

We are actively looking for artists and collaborators in each time zone on earth to host a light sensor from June 21st, 2023 through June 21st, 2024.

HOST A SENSOR

WHAT WILL I DO AS A HOST?

  • Set the light sensor we send you on your windowsill.
  • Provide electricity (it uses a 5v USB power supply) and wifi access at least once a day, and you will become part of a global collaborative team providing the project’s raw data.
  • It will send data automatically. The day cycles of change in the color of light in your environment over the 2023 – 2024 year are at the heart of Domestic Light.
  • You can share (if willing) once a month a 1 minute sound recording responding to prompt : “the sound of home?” that will serve as the basis for composer Pamela Z‘s score for project. It may be used in a live audio / visual performance by Ian Winters and composer / performer Pamela Z In 2024. You will also be able to share writing about your experience of observing the year’s passage of light on the website if you desire.
  • You will also be able to stream the data collected to your local network to use in your own projects via OSC.

I WANT TO PARTICIPATE. WHAT NEXT?

  • Fill out the SENSOR HOST REQUEST form.
    • we will email you to confirm your info. We will give you the full project details about what data is collected and how it will be used, and ask you to confirm your interest.
  • Receive a sensor: In early to mid June 2023 we will send you a small sensor and controller about the size of a Raspberry Pi (6cm x 8cm) in a translucent plastic case. When it arrives:
    • place the sensor on a window sill, where it will get light from inside and outside. We ask that you keep it connected and powered on (as best as you can) through June 21st, 2024, and move it as little as possible.
    • connect it to electric power and wifi : Plug it into electricity. It is powered by a USB 5v connection (like a cell phone). Then connect it to your local wifi network using phone or other computer to input your password. It will come with full instructions, a power cord for your country and on-call help as needed.
    • Let it run: Once a minute or so it will use a very small amount of wifi data to upload the light color data. If you have extremely limited internet (such as a satellite connection) – let us know so we can give you a low bandwidth version.
  • Share 1 minute of sound once per month. We also ask willing participants to share one minute of sound, once per month, responding to the prompt: What is the sound of home? Cell phone recordings are fine. We will have a special link on this site so you can upload them directly from your phone.
  • Keep the sensor: At the end of the project in summer 2024 you can keep the sensor – we hope you will find it useful!
OPEN SOURCE

The code for the sensors will be published via the project GitHub site so that you can review what code is running on the sensor. See the Technical Information page for more details and also if you would like to participate or help.

USE YOUR OWN DATA:

If you are a musician, video or media artist would like to see and play with the light data in real time you will also have the ability to send the real time data to computer on your local network via OSC (Open Sound Control). The project is publishing a Max-MSP object and an Isadora actor to make it easy work with the real-time data from the sensor in your own projects. You can use any software that can utilise OSC packets such as open source tools like SuperCollider for audio and Processing for visual elements.

WHAT IS THE SENSOR AND WHAT AM I SHARING?

The sensor is built from an AMS AS7341 or AMS AS7343 multi-spectral light sensor, a real time clock and either a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W or ESP32-S3 micro-controller. They are housed on a custom circuit board in a translucent plastic case and will come with a power supply for your country. Approximately once per minute the sensor will record the color intensity of light in 10 major spectra from ultraviolet to infrared and upload those color data readings to the project database along with an approximate latitude / longitude blurred to a 100+ km accuracy.

HOW WILL DATA COLLECTED BE USED:

That data gathered worldwide will be used to create a timelapse color “map” and video showing the color of domestic light worldwide as a core part of the project. No personal or network information– only the color data, sensor ID and the time collected– will be transmitted to the project.

ARCHIVAL DATA PUBLICATION:

At the end of the project, Domestic Light‘s structured data set– including the color, time, and approximate latitude / longitude information– will be archived at the University of Sussex Humanities Lab. It will be available for open source use and interpretation by artists and researchers, and you will be able to contribute the data your sensor collects if you choose. It will also be archived with Leonardo / ISAST as part of a special section of Leonardo Journal.
The project Data Management Plan and research plan has been reviewed and approved by University of Sussex Ethics Review Committee as study ER/IW50/1, via Winters’ relationship with the University of Sussex Humanities Lab.