Soundscapes by Sonic Minds await, hidden in The Fields

Sonic Minds asks how we might connect more deeply to frequencies of mind and nature through sound. Created in collaboration with MSCTY_Studio, the initiative is an experiment that explores the overlapping lenses of sonic facets from different disciplines. It brings together scientists, musicians, sound engineers, spiritual teachers, dancers and people from a range of backgrounds. 

Together, the Sonic Minds community investigates the vast and complex territory of sound. Sonic Minds researches how music changes the social contexts of how we gather, our responses to environmental sounds and synthetic replications of them, the effects of the human voice (through chanting and song) on the mind and many more questions yet to be asked. The more we search, the more we discover, the more curious we become.

Appearing in The Fields (often in unexpected places) are sound installations that act as extensions of Sonic Minds’ exploration. Each draws from ideas of how we connect to ourselves, to each other and the world around us.

As a nod to the golden era of Japanese Kankyō Ongaku, a movement of ambient and environmental music during the 80s, these activations work in harmony with the landscape and its natural (or constructed) architecture.

Enter Wonder

As Wonderers arrive, Sonic Minds greets them with a representation of natural sounds from The Fields—and a recreation of them through semi-synthetic forms. Created by Kirk Barley and Elsa Hewitt, this piece builds upon work started at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). 

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” shares James Greer of MSCTY_Studio. “What would evoke a more positive reaction from people: the chirp of a real frog or bird, or the synthesized sounds that emulate a frog or a bird.”

We’re not the first to ask the question—musicians from around the world have replicated birdsong and animal calls for centuries, seeking to evoke feelings of nostalgia, calm and even joy. In the same vein, Enter Wonder aims to offer a glimpse of the wonder beyond the Box Office. 

You can catch a special live rendition of this piece in the Ancestral Forest. 

Synth Pop City Bangkok

“When we think of environmental music, we’re drawn towards the idea of a simpler, slower world,” reflects James. “In Synth Pop City Bangkok, we aim to turn that on its head, highlighting the busiest times of dawn and dusk.”

SOT’s cityscape-inspired space is the natural home for this experience. Both the venue and this activation honor our tropic city: industrial, hot, pulsing, busy and yet embracing pockets of truly wild life.

“We’re also looking at how the sounds of urban environments may calm some people more effectively than nature,” adds MSCTY_Studio’s Nick Luscombe. “Personally, I feel a sense of calm listening to domestic sounds like the washing machine or people cycling past my window and the occasional car and train in the distance.”

Playing at different times of day, this installation was mixed with Dutch artist Shook, whose work and aesthetic pays homage to originators of Japanese Kankyō Ongaku and the work of Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The Bridge To Wonderness

Bridges help us move from one space to the next, rising above what we cannot touch and often don’t stop to wonder at. On the smaller bridge to Wonderness, a Sonic Minds sound installation features a playfully self-referential piece by Midori Takada, one of the original artists leading the Kankyō Ongaku movement.

“In this piece, Midori contemplates the deeper meaning of bridges,” says Nick. “Beyond physical crossings, we’re exploring bridges as the crossing point of a journey—pathways that connect people and ideas. I think those types of bridges are needed now more than ever.”

What you hear might change, depending on which side of the bridge you're walking from.

Sonic Interventions 

Designed by Ab Rogers and collaborating artists, Social Interventions are tucked away in less-explored places in The Fields, inviting Wonderers to enter and connect with each other. Inspired by this unspoken invitation, Sonic Minds and Mark de Clive-Lowe add sound elements that will intrigue and attract any nearby wandering Wonderer.

Through explorations and immersive experiences, Sonic Minds fill spaces with sounds to help recharge and recenter.

Music for Rest Rooms

Featuring the Japanese ambient music pioneer, Yumiko Morioka, this installation began as an exploration of spaces of peace and comfort, rooted in the artist’s home in the wilderness of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The activation evokes a series of memories—each a time, place, feeling and scent.

This piece was performed live for the first time at an intimate listening experience in Bangkok on 27 August 2025. It will play again in The Fields at some of our restrooms. We invite you to see if you can find which ones.

A sound installation to cleanse Baan Bardo

Sonic Mind’s sound work for Baan Bardo is an interpretation of the state between one realm and another, one cycle and the next. Accentuating the venue’s kinetic maze, the sound installation challenges our perceptions of space, time and our place within them. The piece merges samples from spaces of transition spanning temples to train stations, including readings from Black Turtle's Harry Einhorn and sonic references to the efforts of meditation.

This sonic concept is inspired by the power of the collective to create, conjure, harness and utilize new sounds through shared experiences.

Choomchon Forest

As night falls in the Ancestral Forest, memories of the diverse community of plants and trees come to life. A Forest Choir of humans resonating along with the forest (which was captured at our first inaugural FieldChapters by the Choomchon Frequency Orchestra's Opening Ritual) and echoes of the forest’s collective sonic memory. Choomchon Forest echoes across the canopy from the Mother Tree source, voiced by musician Notep.

Walk The Fields this December and discover these sound installations yourself. Tickets are available at the next public sale.