September 2013 saw the UK premiere of Submergence, an uplifting new artwork housed in ground floor of The Eye building near Temple Meads Station in Bristol. Visitors to the large-scale light installation, which was free to explore, could immerse themselves in a continuously shifting ocean of thousands of differently coloured lights, created through a combination of digital pixels, light lanterns and the physical movement of the visitors themselves.

Submergence - at The Eye, Bristol by squidsoup.

Over 8000 individually addressable points of light were suspended in a large black cube, where visitors could move freely, experiencing the effect of their physical presence on the lights and sounds around them. The installation was divided into four five-minute sections taking 20 minutes to unfold, and the lights gradually increased in intensity building to a final climax. See Submergence in action in this short film.

Submergence emerged from a research project called Ocean of Light, which looked into the immersive possibilities of visual systems that occupy physical 3D space. The award-winning digital artists Squidsoup who are CHECK residents in the Pervasive Media Studio have been working with Watershed for over a decade and we were thrilled to host the UK premiere of their breathtaking installation. With two acclaimed international showings at the Geneva Mapping Festival in Geneva and a solo show in Oslo, Submergence made its first and only appearance in the UK in Bristol, before it continued its tour in St Petersburg.

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Submergence was part of a series of Bristol Temple Quarter commissions, coordinated by Watershed, Knowle West Media Centre and MAYK, with support from Bristol City Council and Arts Council England. The projects were designed to pop up, excite and re-invent perceptions and potentials. 

Images by Paul Blakemore

Ended in September 2013

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