Four Tet collaborated with lighting team, Squidsoup, to create a simple, yet immersive lighting rig for his tour in 2015-2016. Squidsoup used around 5000-6000 addressedable RGB festoon LEDs. Each strand had about 24 LEDs and was hung from a single point so it fell verticaly. The strands were arranged in a grid of 24 across and 8 deep, creating a volumetric sculpture of light behind the artist on stage. In smaller venues, the sculpture would almost completely engulf a large part of the room. While possible to control it using traditional 2D media, all of the content was controlled in real-time using custom software, to be fully able to take advantage of the multiple layers of lights.

I really admire this project because of its minimal design that still allows for a multitude of possibilities within its confines. It almost forces a re-imaging of how to create and perform visual content that can unfold through multiple layers as opposed to just working with a 2-dimensional image on a screen. I imagine it must have also been easy to tour with, as it doesn’t require much power and would be relatively easy to install from venue to venue.

Behind the scenes

Full Boiler Room London Set