Baan Bardo: a new space of transitions and revelations

For our tenth year in The Fields, we are introducing a brand-new pavilion that unfolds in so many ways: Baan Bardo.

Designed by multi-media artist Wit Pimkanchanapong, Baan Bardo is a new space for cultural exploration, a theatre in constant metamorphosis that adjusts to the shifting energies from day to night. As an ephemeral labyrinth of panels that rise and fall in so many patterns, it is home to experimental performances, ceremonial experiences and celebrations of music.

Wit has been interested in maze systems, how they make space for people to inhabit temporarily, while influencing how people move, react and interact. His previous works, featured in gallery spaces and temple grounds, are feats of visual architecture that engage with music, sound and the specific people walking the mazes. 

With Baan Bardo, Wit is endeavoring to create a different multi-disciplinary space entirely.

“This really is a journey of exploration and experimentation in both place and programming,” reveals Bow Wasinondh, Senior Director of Arts & Culture.“The kinetic maze in itself is part of the programme, acting as a mind transitioning between thoughts and existences. It explores possibilities of how a place can be flexible and shift in harmony with changing activities—just like an open and wondering mind.”

In designing Baan Bardo, Wit drew inspiration from the ancient practices of several indigenous communities in Thailand and around the region. Each culture has differing yet similar ways of creating mazes as an act of devotion and contemplation, tracing pathways to awareness of self.

“Villagers would come together and build a central maze for their auspicious gathering,” explains Bow, “gamifying the act of getting lost, focusing your mind and pace, then finding your way to the center, where you make offerings at the core.”

These expressions of community through built spaces were ways to gather and pay homage to faith—each maze a small pilgrimage to presence. In The Fields, we pay homage to these traditions, translating them into a venue that shifts and shapes itself differently to varying programmes. 

“As the maze reconfigures itself again and again into different compartments, it redefines how we gather and the intention of the gathering,” says Bow.

Each day unfolds with a different theme, moving through Wonderfruit’s cycles and rhythms. 

In the daylight hours, Dhyana creates a mandala of senses within Baan Bardo, exploring the concept of ‘Echo’.

“Where the sense object meets the sense, that is the echo.”

– The Jewel of Enlightened Activity, Dhyana

Inspired by the senses, Dhyana’s programming invites you to contemplate the maze of our own sensorial experiences. Meditation sessions, multisensory rituals and sacred offerings of art and dance are led by Black Turtle and multi-disciplinary artists. 

As Baan Bardo eases into dusk, mind performs a seamless handshake with sound, crossing into the night’s programming. Sound meditations and introspective movements shift in concert with the kinetic maze, unravelling into live performances—including from Open Reel Ensemble and Eduardo Castillo. 

A sound installation from Sonic Minds cleanses and resets the space at intervals, preparing us for the next cycle. Recreating the transitory state of Bardo, this sound work samples from ceremonial spaces, where we step from one life to the next, and train platforms, where we can be carried away to great distances.

At night, deep, genre-blending DJs and curations with ROVR invite us to celebrate as the maze opens itself up to Wonderers. Expect to hear a range of artists here, including eucademix, Daniel Brandt, Britta Arnold and more. 

Explore more programming at Baan Bardo to see what else awaits at the end of your pilgrimage to the maze’s center.