Live Performance with Squid Soup: Infinite Clouds
Thursday 17th September
6.30pm - 7.45pm: Infinite
7.45 -8.30pm: Infinite Clouds - Live performance with Jason Singh
This Thursday we welcome sound artist, composer and nature beatboxer Jason Singh for a live improvised performance developed in response to Squid Soup’s Infinite installation.
Over 45 minutes, Jason will improvise alongside the installation, combining voice, spatial audio, field recordings and live plant bio-sonification. The performance explores the interconnected relationship between sound, light, technology, plants and the surrounding environment, with each element informing and responding to the others in real time.
This collaborative performance offers an opportunity to experience Infinite through sound and light, while exploring new approaches to interspecies communication, environmental listening and live sonic interaction.
Tickets: £10, £12 or £15 Pay what you can
Infinite
Immersive randomised spatial musical composition in four movements for a space of any dimensions.
Infinite carves physical space into clusters of sounds, chords and notes. These clusters, generated at random but according to specific rules, emerge and dissipate over various timescales, eventually ceding the space to the next cluster event. Each movement uses randomness in a specific way – results have structure but the randomness ensures unpredictability and no repetition.
Physically, the space contains hundreds of suspended bespoke ‘orbs’ at various heights (each orb emanates its own independent light and sounds) yet still allowing visitors to walk through the space, hearing the composition unfold from any chosen vantage point. The result is clouds of sounds, chords resulting from combined individual notes emanating from multiple speakers, appearing at specific locations in the space – a fully spatialised 3D sonic experience, shared but yet unique to each visitor.
Infinite uses any number of orbs, though the version documented has around 200, suspended at random heights. The orbs were designed and built by us, and each includes an ESP32 processor, LEDs and its own speaker.
The work comprises a three section loop (of variable length but set as around five minutes for the documentation). It is ambient by nature, exploring the overlaps between immersion and atmosphere, the finite and the infinite.
The sections use different sample sets (white noise, piano and strings) triggered using randomised parameters (the notes played, timing, location, size of cloud, rate of expansion), generated in real time.
About Squid Soup
Pioneers in the use of light, sound and technology, Squidsoup’s artworks combine physical and dynamic digital spaces with novel and intuitive forms of interaction to produce responsive and beguiling environments.
Their work has been seen by millions of people across the globe since 1997 in galleries, museums and live events, festivals and exhibitions. Recent exhibitions and events include: Vivid Sydney (AUS, 2023), London’s Alexandra Palace (2019, 2023), International Centre for Light Art (DE, 2022-2023) Burning Man Festival (USA, 2018, 2019), Canary Wharf (UK, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023), Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, (CA, USA, 2021-2), Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (USA, 2017, 2019), Noor Riyadh (KSA, 2021), Ars Pedregal (MEX, 2019), Salisbury and Gloucester Cathedrals (2015, 2018, 2020), and a permanent exhibition in Houston (USA).
Their key work Submergence has been exhibited over 100 times on six continents.
Their collaboration with renowned DJ/musician Four Tet has developed over 8 years from a small conventional live stage-based lighting system to a radical fully immersive experience enveloping both audience and performer, breaking the boundaries between the two, merging artwork and performance, the virtual and the real into a unique augmented experience.
Working with partners in a variety of winter light festivals has allowed them to present their work to a broad demographic of more family-based audiences across the globe at events as varied as Vivid Sydney (AUS), Lyon’s Fête des Lumières (FR), Royal Botanical Gardens’ Christmas at Kew (UK), Canary Wharf (UK), Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (USA) and Illuminate Adelaide (AUS).
About Jason Singh
Jason Singh is a multifaceted sound artist, nature beatboxer, producer, DJ, curator, facilitator, and performer. His life and work are deeply rooted in the art of listening. He embraces a multi-sensory and cross-species approach to sound and music, constantly exploring the relationships between humans, wildlife, and the environment through audio expression.
Jason’s creative output is a rich exploration of the natural world, club culture, the human voice, public engagement and an extensive range of music technologies. His diverse body of work includes live performances, immersive sound installations, studio recordings, remixes, compositions for film and theatre, deep listening and well-being experiences, sound walks, radio broadcasts, music workshops, podcasts, curated playlists, and immersive DJ sets.
For over 30 years, he has collaborated with and received commissions from a wide array of esteemed organisations and artists. These include major cultural institutions and festivals such as the BBC, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Serpentine Gallery, the V&A Museum, Earthshot Prize, WOMAD, Kew Gardens, Chester Zoo, SONOS, Luke Jerram, BFI, Celtic Connections, RNLI, National Trust, Tate Britain, as well as renowned artists like Nitin Sawhney, George Ezra, Big Narstie, Yazz Ahmed, Shabaka Hutchings, Sebastian Rochford, Leafcutter John, Graham Massey (808 State), Natacha Atlas, Sarathy Korwar, Talvin Singh, and Rokia Traore, Hetain Patel, to name just a few. Through these collaborations, Jason continues to push the boundaries of sound and listening practice, fostering innovative and immersive experiences for diverse audiences.
Jason is an associate Soundscape artist with D&B audiotechnik
“incredible musician and experimenter” - Nitin Sawhney.
“the human sampler” - Cerys Matthews (6 Music)
“beautiful, strange, calming music” - Robert Macfarlane.
“Jason gave the perfect performance to illustrate what I always want to say about Art: it's about making things that create feelings in people, important feelings that they might otherwise forget about.” - Brian Eno