Client: Salisbury Cathedral

Location: Salisbury, United Kingdom

Completion date: 2018

Artwork budget: $40,000

Project Team

Artist

Eve Klein

Squidsoup Ltd

Artist

Ollie Bown

Client

Jacquiline Creswell

Salisbury Cathedral

Overview

Wave consists of 500 suspended orbs, points of presence brought to life through light and sound, that collectively create a resonant, dynamic audiovisual experience – a sustaining space within which each orb resonates in changing harmonies to create an enveloping and entrancing physical presence.

The work continues Squidsoup’s explorations and obsession with elemental themes, particularly water.

Each orb in the wave contains LEDs, speaker and microcomputer with wireless connectivity. Together they create a walkthrough immersive experience; 500 points of light, 500 speakers, acting in choreographed harmony to create emotive and enticing, sensual immersive environments – a sanctuary in this crazy world.

Goals

The commission was a response by the cathedral and the city to the Novichok attacks earlier in the year. Visits, tourism, and the city's sense of itself were all down and need of a boost. This work was one of three commissions as part of the 'From Darkness to Light' outdoor exhibition.

Process

The work continues our explorations of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to create visually and aurally compelling immersive experiences. Previous works include Field (Wales Millenium Centre, 2016) and Bloom (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, 2016). The idea is to create an autonomous unit that can receive signals from a central server (Raspberry Pi) but also works as an independent unit.