Lilienthal Solargraphy

Physical data recording

I create images of the sunlight using pinhole cameras at my home in Lilienthal, Germany. This image presents a graphical recording of the sun’s position and strength over the course of 6 months in the second half of 2022.

Exploring data-less, autographic visualizations bears a fascination for me, as it allows us to explore materiality and process behind data graphics in new ways. As a personal experiment, I set up pinhole cameras to capture the sun's light over the course of 6 months. The resulting images are diagrammatic in nature, but were created without any data, merely through a specific physical setup.

The equipment used to generate the images
Failed experiments
The original as seen on the photopaper. The images above are inverted and edited for contrast.

Mathias Stahl has created remakes of the images using code. It is interesting to compare the relative qualities of the two approaches.