Visiting the new “Shoal” installation on a quiet balmy Sunday night I was captivated by its tidal ambience. I strolled beneath the softly changing orbs of light and listened to their soundscape, composed of harmonies which are reminiscent of early electronic synths, white noise and womb vibrations. The effect was calming and meditative, with gentle tonal and rhythmic changes to the flowing soundwaves, as they transmitted through “Shoal’s” many currents. I left feeling energized and relaxed at the same time, ready for the week ahead.
I spoke with Liam Birtless, Squidsoup’s creative director, to learn more about this exciting new immersive experience recently installed in Hughes Landing.
The “Shoal” immersive art experience talks to us on a different level, light as a medium has a unique sensory effect and evokes contrasting emotions which differ to those we feel when viewing regular sculpture and other 2D artforms. “Shoal” presents an interactive light encounter where we occupy the same space and moments, the changing sequences of the lights, colors and sounds they emit. “It’s about seeing things in a different light, looking at ourselves, each other and our environments differently” explains Birtless, “Squidsoup work in extended reality and mixed reality, it’s like placing a digital layer over the world and creating a new immersive space”.
Our brains see light and dark before color, different colored lights are used in numerous environments to create ambient effects. The sounds we hear are composed from Squidgroups bank of their own collected soundbytes, recordings of the human voice, guitars, minimalistic electronic soundwaves and other noises from nature. “Shoal” presents 750 suspended orbs working together, creating chords from individual hummed notes, all working in unison. Sound and light are transmitted via wifi from separate orbs, connecting each one and making it “sing” to the others, which in turn, follow in a metachronal rhythm, a bit like a stadium wave.
The definition of shoal is a large number of fish swimming together, in this case, it references a community of people interacting as a collective group of energy, light moving through space, swimming, weaving and flowing freely between objects. The suspended installation begins formally and develops and branches out until it reaches the area closest to the water in a more natural, organic formation.
Squidsoup has installations across the globe, and exhibits include locations Kew Gardens, Burning Man, Glastonbury, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Norway.
“Shoal is the latest in a series of works that use our own system of hundreds of points of light and sound to create new forms of immersive and ambient works, and was designed specifically for Hughes Landing,” stated Anthony Rowe, Founder of Squidsoup. “We are honored and delighted to present the work to the residents and visitors of The Woodlands.“
Public art in The Woodlands began to appear in the late 1970s with placement throughout the community, this continues as an important community legacy to this day. The Woodlands now offers one of the largest outdoor art collections in the nation, "Shoal" is a welcome addition to the existing works in the Hughes Landing area, which include the art bench collection, “Acrobatica” by Rafael Barrios, Firefly, by John Clement and Wind Waves by Yvonne Domenge.
“Shoal is a new interactive piece that adds to the diversity of our expansive art collection, reinforces the power of art in placemaking—a fundamental component of The Woodlands’ original vision for the community,” said Jim Carman, President of the Houston Region for The Howard Hughes Corporation.
www.squidsoup.org