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What is Domestic Light?

Domestic Light is an ongoing international art-and-research project funded by Leonardo that investigates the relation between light, home, time and our perception of the same through sustained multispectral observation.

Since 21^st June 2023, a global network of collaborators has hosted custom-built multispectral sensors on domestic windowsills. Across diverse time zones and geographies, these devices continuously record the colour of interior and exterior light and gather spectral information beyond the RGB space of screens and projections.

With the primary 2 years of data collection complete, the resulting dataset composes an idiosyncratic, anecdotal yet planetary-scale record: everyday rhythms, seasonal variation, light as it is inhabited and shaped by the happenstance and hazards of daily life. Collaborators move, sensor contacts, wi-fi, conflict zones, packages and power are lost and regained across more than 70 locations, with traces left latent in the intensity data collected every 5 seconds from near IR to near UV range.

Domestic Light exhibition: 16-19 June, 10-4pm.

The exhibition will showcase the current stage of the work, as Domestic Light completes its primary data-gathering phase and moves to performance and installation. It centres on a scale version of the installation that fills The Lab with 24 of the multispectral LED light/sound modules created for the project. Constructed as an immersive and open sphere the installation animates and geolocates the spectral record and associated sonic traces and provides a look back in time as the light fades and rises around the earth over the project’s time span.

Artist talk: Thursday 18 June, 2pm.

Ian will give us a performance-installation on Thursday 18 June in The Lab in Silverstone, followed by artist talk/research presentation and Q&A. The talk will be followed by drinks and nibbles in The Lab's garden (weather permitting). Everyone is welcome. This is a great opportunity to hear about the creative process and progress of the work. Places are free and open to everyone but registration is essential, limited capacity in person only. Book your place here.

Residency open days, Fridays from 15 May, 1-4pm.

Ian will run drop-in sessions in the lab on Fridays from 15th May to 12th June (1-4 pm) in the run up to his exhibition and performance during SHL Week 2026 (16-19 June). Drop in and meet the artist, and learn more about the idea and the process of Domestic Light. Everyone is welcome, no booking necessary, just drop by The Lab in Silverstone Level 2 (opposite SB211).

* SHL Week is an annual programme of events celebrating the work of the SHL Digital's community of researchers and practitioners.

SHL Digital (a.k.a.“The Lab”) is in Silverstone Level 2, opposite SB211, University of Sussex Falmer Campus.

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