Domestic Data Streamers

Domestic Data Streamers is a creative research and design studio founded in 2013 and based in Barcelona, Spain. It is known for producing installations, exhibitions, digital platforms, and other formats that translate data and information into participatory and physical experiences.

The studio comprises around thirty members, including designers, social scientists, engineers, creative technologists, journalists, and others, who work on projects with different brands, cultural institutions, governments, and organisations internationally. Since 2019, Domestic Data Streamers has been involved in various research activities and projects related to science and technology studies, artificial intelligence, the arts, social impact, design research and philosophy of design.

History

Domestic Data Streamers was founded in 2013 in Barcelona by Pau Aleikum Garcia, Alexandra de Requesens, Joan Planas, and Dani Pearson. The founders met while studying design at the Elisava school of Design and Engineering in Barcelona, and were later on joined by Axel Gasulla and Martina Nadal as partners. The group first built The Mood Test, an interactive installation in the Tres Xemeneies park in the Poble-Sec district of Barcelona. It was a 24‑hour public artwork that collected responses from passersby about their age and mood, visualising results in real time. The project received press coverage and led to further commissions, prompting the founders to formally establish the studio under the name Domestic Data Streamers. In its early years, Domestic Data Streamers operated as an art collective exploring data physicalisation through public and museum installations. Early notable projects include Lifeline (2014), Golden Age (2015), or Sandfalls (2014), which was presented at the CCCB in Barcelona, earning the studio the Barcelona City Award (Premi Ciutat) which awards projects at the intersection art, technology, social science, and design. The team expanded internationally, developing exhibitions and installations for institutions such as UNICEF, Spotify, TED, the UN, Mango, Beefeater, with projects in more than 45 countries. By the late 2010s, Domestic Data Streamers' practice had evolved from experimental installations to large‑scale collaborations with corporations, public institutions, and research centers. In 2019, the studio launched the Master in Data Design (MADD) at Elisava, a programme focused on combining data, technology, and design to communicate complex data. The program was restructured in 2025 as the Master in Applied AI for Arts and Design (MAIAD), integrating artificial intelligence into its curriculum.

In 2021, Domestic Data Streamers founded Hey Human!, a nonprofit artist‑in‑residence program based in Barcelona that supports experimentation across art, science, and design.

From 2022 onward, Domestic Data Streamers began to explore AI‑driven research and creative tools, especially generative artificial intelligence. Notable projects and initiatives include Synthetic Memories, begun in 2022, which uses generative AI to reconstruct visualisations of people's personal recollections, Skeptic Reader, an AI tool designed to detect misinformation in online news outlets, and Uncoded Gestures, an installation that matches a visitor's movements with gestures in archival materials.

Philosophy

Domestic Data Streamers has grounded its practice in the view that data is a key mode of representation in the information age - that data alone is necessary, but not sufficient to fully capture social realities and contemporary issues.

Within the field of data and information visualization, the studio's work has been described as developing "new data languages", a term used to describe systems that translate data into physical, spatial, or narrative formats. These projects often take the form of installations or interactive environments and are frequently connected to social and political topics. This approach is situated within the studio's broader practice of "data storytelling", which emphasises accessibility and public engagement with information.

Since the early 2020s, Domestic Data Streamers has extended this framework to projects involving artificial intelligence, including AI‑based tools, research initiatives, and public installations. This work has addressed topics such as algorithmic transparency, digital monopolies, and the social impact of AI in creative and cultural contexts.

Synthetic Memories

Synthetic Memories is a project developed by Domestic Data Streamers that uses generative artificial intelligence to produce visual representations of lost or undocumented personal memories. Initiated in 2022 as a self-directed research project, it invites participants to describe moments from their past such as childhood events, migration experiences, or episodes affected by trauma or aging. These memories are then translated into non-photorealistic AI-generated images. The project has been implemented across therapeutic, cultural, and historical contexts. Early applications included reminiscence therapy for people with dementia in Barcelona, and memory reconstruction sessions with migrant communities in São Paulo. It has since expanded internationally through collaborations with public institutions, artists, and researchers, including in a project to document police [...] testimonies from Spain's Francoist regime, a dementia care case study in London in partnership with Google Arts & Culture and researchers from the University of Toronto and UBC, a pavilion at the Matsudo Science Art Festival in Japan, work with the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage (Chile) to reconstruct memories of Valparaíso, and a retrospective project with South African artist Esther Mahlangu. In 2024, the studio launched the Citizens' Office of Synthetic Memories, an exhibition at the Design Museum of Barcelona, in partnership with BIT Habitat and the City Council of Barcelona. Over 300 memories were reconstructed by the end of the exhibition. As of 2025, the project has been featured in over 80 media outlets, including The World, RTVE, Libération, Courrier International, La Repubblica, ABC, The Atlantic, and MIT Technology Review. It was also the subject of a TED Talk by studio co-founder Pau Garcia.

Notable projects

  • The Mood Test (2013–2015) – The studio's first project, a public street installation in Barcelona in which passersby responded to questions about mood and attitudes, with aggregated results visualised in real time.
  • Data Strings (2014 - current) - An interactive installation format in which participants answer questions that are translated into live graphic visualisations of collective social patterns. Versions of the project have been presented in multiple international contexts.
  • Sandfalls (2014) - An audience analytics installation developed for the Big Bang Data exhibition at the CCCB in Barcelona, using sand clocks connected to tracking devices to measure visitor engagement with artworks. The project received the Barcelona City Award for Design and was later included in the Matter Matters exhibition at the Design Museum of Barcelona.
  • Time Machine (2016) - An immersive installation created in collaboration with UNICEF and presented at the 2016 United Nations General Assembly, addressing gaps in childhood data records through sound-based and narrative interaction.
  • Time Keeper (2016) - A collaborative project with Sónar Festival and Spotify in which participants' music preferences were linked to a future date, triggering the delivery of a selected song at a later time.
  • Absolut Nights (2017) - A social experiment in Barcelona that used wearable devices to collect data on nightlife participation, categorising participants according to engagement with music, technology, and art.
  • Feminista havies de ser (2020) - A participatory exhibition in Barcelona visualising data related to sexism and gender inequality. The exhibition attracted more than 35,000 visitors in its first month and received significant media attention.
  • 730 Hours of Violence (2021) – An exhibition in Barcelona examining multiple forms of violence, including digital, environmental, and structural violence, organised around a 730-hour countdown. The project was presented within European research and cultural programmes, including S+T+ARTS and Ars Electronica.
  • A Cartography of Human Connection (2023) - An installation presented at the Digital Impact exhibition at the Barcelona Design Museum, translating online behavioural data into physical marks produced by robotic devices.
  • Forever Frequencies (2025) - An interactive installation at the Barbican Centre's exhibition Feel the Sound, where visitors' memories and aspirations were the basis for the generation of AI-assisted musical compositions.

Awards & Prizes

  • 2025 – AICA Awards, for Synthetic Memories
  • 2025 – Webby Awards, Webby Winner & People's Voice Winner (AI, Immersive & Games – Best Installation or Experience), for Countdown for Change
  • 2025 – Telly Awards, Silver Winner (General-Advocacy & Causes), for Countdown for Change
  • 2025 – Prix Ars Electronica, Grand Prize Award for Digital Humanity & Honorary Mention, S+T+ARTS Prize, for Synthetic Memories
  • 2024 – 4D Award, Digital Rights by Design Prize, for Skeptic Reader
  • 2023 – Information is Beautiful Awards, for A Cartography of Human Connection
  • 2014 – Barcelona City Award (Premis Ciutat de Barcelona), for Sandfalls