Welcome to the Museum of Consciousness

After 30 sold-out shows across the world and numerous festival appearances, the Museum of Consciousness returns to Oxford University, now at New College. 

*** This edition of the Museum of Consciousness is dedicated to my dear friend Amanda Feilding who recently passed into the great mystery. She was a true pioneer *** 

The challenge to these artists is to produce a reliable and measurable Altered State of Consciousness in a live audience, just with sound.

The Museum of Consciousness features short, audio-based transmissions that induce expansive states of consciousness, stimulating various subjective experiences, including thought experiments, sound journeys, and dream incubations. It is a living embodiment of the collective consciousness with over 100 artists, including Orbital, Jon Hopkins, Lisa Lashes, Tom Middleton and Alexandre Tannous.

The museum's regenerative structure is designed to empower both artists and audience, through a circular process of Transmission, Integration, and Feedback:

1. Transmission - Sound Transmission from the Artist  - The artists TRANSMIT their sound to the audience.
2. Feedback - Audience feeback - Where the audience directly COMMUNICATES their thoughts and feelings back to the artist to help them learn and potentially iterate on their piece.
3. Integration -  Mini-lecture from the Artist about their work - The artists then help INTEGRATE their transmission with a mini lecture which explains the piece in depth, and their passion for sound as a whole.

To understand more about the concept and workings of our Museum of Consciousness, you can watch our explainer video, read our published paper, or visit our website...

Video promo Wasing: https://youtu.be/h1qiSnxLmCg
Video promo Oxford: https://youtu.be/cATYm9kjO3U 
Video explainer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrDa5qCodJc 
Paper: https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2021.55 
Website: https://themoc.org    

The featured artists playing at New College, Oxford University over 5 hours will be: 
 

1.) Tritha (spatial set)

2.) Ebe Oke

3.) Augustine Leudar (spatial set)

4.) Jose Macabra (spatial set)

5.) Robot Koch & Naina Eira 

*** We have limited seats for this event and will sell out so please purchase tickets early if you intend to come. 
We will have limited tickets on the door, please bring cash if possible ***

Proudly sponsored by VIVOBAREFOOT: https://www.vivobarefoot.com 
 

Tritha

Title: The Psychedelia of Ancient  Indian Sounds

Description: Tritha, a Sound Yogini - captivating Indian vocalist and composer, unveils "Psychedelism of Ancient Indian Sounds" at the Museum of Consciousness. This unique presentation explores the profound therapeutic and transformative power of Indian classical music, a very important chapter from Naad Yoga - The Yoga of Sound. Tritha will demonstrate Raga Therapy - how specific ragas, with their intricate melodic structures, are meticulously designed as Sacred Geometry to resonate with different energy centers in the body and mind, influencing emotions and promoting well-being. She will also delve into the ancient practice of Mantra Seeds, explaining its sonic properties and how the repetition of sacred sounds can induce meditative states and deepen spiritual connection. Through live vocalizations and insightful commentary, Tritha will illuminate the science and mysticism behind these powerful ancient sound traditions, offering a journey into consciousness through the vibrational tapestry of Indian music with her divine Voice.

Biography: Tritha is a Indian classical & contemporary vocalist, composer and Sound yogini based out of India and Europe. Trained in Indian classical music for over 30 years in khayal 16th and dhrupad 12th century techniques. Travelled, performed and represented India in over 23 countries, Tritha has been featured on BBC, Arte and Canal+ as a music activist. She has composed 18 albums to her credit made in the last decade. Her first album "PaGLi" released on Sony Music India. And her last albums "Pachamama" is a tribute to Mother Earth and Dharani - Tribute to Buddha. Magnum Photos from France featured Tritha as one of "100 Women Changing India".

Weblinks:
http://www.tritha.com 

Ebe Oke

Title: Field

Description: FIELD is a sonic landscape in three parts commissioned by the artist AA Bronson for an immersive audiovisual installation titled Garten der Lüste. FIELD I features the sculpted vocals of the conceptual Japanese musician Takako Minekawa.  This work has been performed at the KW Institute of Contemporary Art (Berlin, Germany), Art Basel (Basel, Switzerland), Guys and St. Thomas Hospitals (London, UK), The Broadway, supporting William Basinski (London, UK) and the live Japanese, cultural programme Dommune, (Tokyo, Japan).

Biography: Ebe Oke is a composer and multimedia artist whose practice spans sound, performance, and visual art. Drawing on patterns from nature, Ebe reveals ecologies beyond human-centered perspectives. Their upbringing in an exotic bird sanctuary in South Georgia (US) informs a body of work that questions belonging, access, and identity. Largely self-taught, Ebe’s practice has evolved through a bespoke education, including composition lessons with Karlheinz Stockhausen, and mentorships and collaborations with artists such as AA Bronson, Brian Eno, and Laurie Anderson. Ebe’s work has been presented internationally at venues including Tate St Ives, the Serpentine Gallery in London, The Kitchen and Pioneer Works in New York, Punkt Festival in Norway, Art Basel in Switzerland, and most recently, Dommune in Tokyo. Ebe’s debut album, SPECIES, explores themes of identity, healing, and non-human perspectives, featuring processed bird and insect sounds woven with precise programming, string arrangements, and treated vocals. Other works include FIELD, commissioned by AA Bronson, and DOKUMENT #2 a collaborative live record with Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno, released as a limited-edition vinyl in 2020. Ebe collaborates with the tech startup Wavepaths, which integrates generative music into psychedelic psychotherapy, and is currently a composer in residence at EMS in Stockholm.

Weblinks:
Instagram: @ebeoke 
Website: www.ebeoke.be
 

Augustine Leudar 

Title: Fever Dream

Description: Augustine Leudar creates a live immersive set spatialising audio in realtime to usher the audience through a variety of improbable sound worlds and noisescapes transporting listeners and inviting them to explore distant sonic shores. Combining traditional surround  techniques with sensor-based interactivity, the piece is shaped live in Max MSP for a quadraphonic experience

Biography: Augustine Leudar has spent the past twenty years crafting interactive hallucinations—immersive 3D sound and visual installations that merge cutting-edge technologies with dreamlike ethereal experiences. Exhibited across the globe, his work transforms physical space into living, breathing environments that respond to the presence of the audience. A subconscious fascination with the occult runs like an underground current through his practice, and many of these installations function as invocations as much as they do artworks.

Weblinks:
www.augustineleudar.com

Jose Macabra (Jose Rivas)

Title:  States of Unbeing

A Ritual Performance of Sonic Dissolution

“To hear is to dissolve. To listen is to be undone.”

In this immersive, quadraphonic ritual performance, Jose Macabra invites the audience into an expanded field of consciousness where sound becomes both medium and guide. States of Unbeing is an improvised live work exploring the sonic thresholds of trance, dissociation, and transformation. Drawing on ritual traditions, sonic rebellion, and altered states, this performance activates a liminal zone between the audible and the ineffable. Macabra sculpts a psychoacoustic experience that destabilises ordinary perception by combining live voice, textural drones, noise improvisation, and quad-spatial chaos. Through non-linear sound structures, cyclical resonance, and ceremonial gesture, the work bypasses narrative and intention—inviting instead a state of deep listening and surrender. The audience is enveloped in a shifting field of sonic energy—where the voice becomes invocation, the drone becomes breath, and the noise becomes dissolution. Informed by electroacoustic practice and mysticism, the piece encourages a loosening of the ego and a return to the unconscious as a site of power and resistance.

Biography: Jose Rivas, aka Jose Macabra (BA Sound Arts, UAL / MA Fine Art, Kent University) is an artist, sound designer, producer, video director, radio DJ/podcaster and curator. Jose teaches Sound Arts and Music Production at the London College of Communications, UAL and other educational establishments. His sound work has many influences from the industrial and noise panoramas, to genres such as ritual and the darker flavours of techno, blended with sound art, soundscape, art brut and experimental music. Jose's research interests include electronic music, field recording, noise music, industrial music, improvisation, sound art performance, queer studies, ritual art practice, collaborative practice, altered states of consciousness, film, surrealism, automatic writing, spatial sound and artificial soundscapes.

Links: 
https://echoesanddust.com/2016/09/echoes-of-the-future-jose-macabra/
https://soundcloud.com/josemacabra
https://extra.resonance.fm/series/jose-macabra-presents
https://vimeo.com/channels/josemacabra
https://www.mixcloud.com/josemacabra/

Robot Koch & Naina Eira 

Title: Svarasa Ritual 

Following their appearance at Breaking Convention—Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic research—Robot Koch and Naina Eira bring their transformative sonic ritual Svarasa to Oxford. Rooted in nondual tantric principles, contemplative science, and ancient Buddhist practice, Svarasa is a 20-minute immersive meditation and sound journey that invites participants into deep presence. Award-winning composer Robot Koch guides a spatial soundscape that blends electronic, ambient, and immersive audio elements to gently shift awareness and foster profound inner listening. Meditation teacher and psychedelic researcher Naina Eira leads the meditation with a grounded approach to timeless wisdom traditions, activating sound as ritual and the body as a field of awareness. Svarasa—from Sanskrit Svara (primordial sound) and Rasa (essence or nectar)—offers sound as a path back to our true nature. Join us for this unique convergence of music, mindfulness, and expanded consciousness.

Robot Koch is an award-winning composer, producer, and sonic innovator whose work exists at the intersection of sound, art, and immersive technology. With a deep curiosity about the connection between music, science, and consciousness, he creates cinematic soundscapes that transcend traditional genres, blending electronic, ambient, and modern classical elements into deeply evocative experiences. With a discography spanning multiple albums and over 100 million streams, Koch's music has been featured in films, TV series, and immersive audiovisual experiences that captivate audiences worldwide. His live performances, known for their multi-sensory depth, have sold out venues across the globe. A recipient of multiple international awards, including "Best Immersive Experience" at the DTLA Film Festival, Koch has collaborated with renowned artists such as Grammy-nominated conductor Kristjan Järvi, as well as Max Richter, Christian Löffler, and Anoushka Shankar. Constantly exploring the transformative power of sound, Koch’s work pushes the boundaries of music as a tool for healing, connection, and expanded awareness—bridging art, technology, and human emotion in profound and unexpected ways.

Naina is developing a comprehensive contemplative framework for psychedelics—bridging ancient Buddhist wisdom with modern scientific inquiry. A lineage-based Vajrayāna tantra meditation teacher and researcher at the University of Exeter, she specialises in nondual states, guiding others through meditative journeys, music, and transmission-based practices—rooted in both lived experience and scholarly depth. Among the first to systematically map unitive states across philosophy, phenomenology, and cross-cultural traditions, her work integrates Eastern and Western frameworks with empirical rigour. Naina’s research is helping shape a new field of contemplative-psychedelic science. She has presented her work at leading conferences and is collaborating with Harvard to advance cutting-edge research in meditation and consciousness.

Weblinks: 
www.robotsdontsleep.com
https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/psychedelics/naina-eira 

The evening will begin with an Introduction to the Museum of Consciousness by Carl Hayden Smith

Carl will discuss the aims and objectives of the Museum - its history and trajectory. 

Biography: 
Carl Hayden Smith is Associate Professor of Media at the University of East London. He is also the Founder of the Museum of Consciousness at Oxford University and co-founder of the Cyberdelics Society. His research concentrates on the relationship between technology and the human condition. Raising over £10 million in research funding, Carl has worked on numerous large-scale Leonardo LifeLong Learning, Erasmus+, FP7, Horizon 2020 projects and the XPRIZE. He has given over 300 invited public lectures, conference presentations and keynotes in 40 countries and published more than 60 academic papers. His research interests also include Contextology (Context Engineering), Embodied Cognition, Spatial Literacy, Umwelt Hacking and Sensory Augmentation.

Weblinks: 
Founder and Director: The Museum of Consciousness
https://www.themoc.org
Co-founder and Director: Cyberdelic Nexus
https://www.cyberdelic.nexus 

Review Summary: 4.6/5 from 23 ratings

Carl is praised for creating "wonderful" and "impressive" events that provide a "great gathering of wonderful people" and "inspiring information." Attendees highlight the high quality and variety of the music and sound art performances, with one calling it "one of the greatest experiences / events I have ever attended." The events are described as having a great "vibe" and "intimacy," creating a powerful, transformative experience for some attendees, even positively impacting mental health. Attendees also appreciate Carl's generosity in sharing their expertise and talent. The overall feedback on Carl's facilitation is extremely positive, highlighting their ability to curate exceptional, impactful experiences.