A walk-through installation of light, sound and technology will transform Stroud’s Brunel Goods Shed this September, with visitors invited to experience a constantly changing musical environment created by Squidsoup.
Squid Soup: Infinite will run from Friday, September 11, to Sunday, September 20, 2026, at the Brunel Goods Shed on Station Approach, Stroud, GL5 2HA. The event is presented by Stroud Valleys Artspace in partnership with Hidden Notes Festival.
An unpredictable landscape of sound
The installation is designed as an immersive, spatial musical composition that can occupy a space of any dimensions. It divides the physical environment into clusters of sounds, chords and notes which appear and fade over different timescales before giving way to another cluster.
Although the sounds are generated randomly within specific rules, the work is not without structure. Each movement uses randomness in a different way, meaning the experience is intended to remain unpredictable and avoid repeating itself in exactly the same form.
Visitors will be able to walk among hundreds of suspended bespoke orbs positioned at different heights. Each orb has its own light and speaker, allowing sounds to emerge from particular points around the room. The result is a three-dimensional sonic environment that can be experienced from any chosen vantage point.
The version documented by the artists uses around 200 orbs. Each was designed and built by Squidsoup and contains an ESP32 processor, LEDs and an individual speaker.
The installation follows a three-section loop, with the documented version lasting about five minutes. Its sound world is ambient in character and uses white noise, piano and strings. Notes, timings, locations, cloud sizes and rates of expansion are all controlled through parameters generated in real time.
Performances and visiting times
The Stroud event will have several public opening periods. It will be open from 6pm to 9pm on Saturday, September 12; from 3pm to 6pm on Sunday, September 13; from 6pm to 8pm on Friday, September 18, when special guest performers are due to appear; and from 1pm to 4.30pm on both Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20.
Entry is on a pay-what-you-can basis, with a suggested price of £5 to £9 at the door. Entry will be free on September 19 and 20 for Hidden Notes Festival ticket holders. The event listing says tickets can be bought on the door.
The listing describes the September 18 session as including special guest performers, although their identities are yet to be announced.
From installation to live performance
Infinite has also been adapted as a musical instrument for live performance. Squidsoup worked with violinist Julz Nguyen, from Lunar Calendar, and local dance group Nicole Olson Movement Chaos to create an event in two parts.
That performance combined a solo violin duet with a collaboration involving the dance group. The installation was controlled in real time in response to the violin and dancers, creating a performance described as sitting between improvisation and planned composition.
The performance was commissioned by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art to mark its permanent acquisition of Infinite. The work has been on display there since June 2025, with its run planned to continue until late August 2026. That exhibition uses around 400 suspended speakers and explores encounters between physical space, technology, music and the human body.
Squidsoup’s work combines physical and dynamic digital spaces with interactive technology. The collective says its artworks have been shown in galleries, museums, festivals and live events around the world since 1997, including exhibitions and events in Sydney, London, Germany, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Australia.
Its work Submergence has been exhibited more than 100 times across six continents, while a long-running collaboration with DJ and musician Four Tet has developed from stage lighting into an immersive environment surrounding both performer and audience.
For Stroud visitors, Squid Soup: Infinite offers a chance to encounter the installation as both a gallery work and a changing live environment, with the final experience shaped by movement through the Brunel Goods Shed and by the sounds generated during each visit.