SONICBUS

Immersive Sound Residency & Ambisonic Dome Installation
Oulu Sound Collective ry × Laidi Palace, Latvia

🚌 Origin & Concept

"Nothing personal, but please remain seated while the bus is in motion."

The project began on an eighteen-hour FlixBus ride from Rovaniemi to Riga—a vehicle that became our mobile studio, temporary home, and central metaphor. This simple transit announcement framed our shared liminal space: a short stretch of time where strangers carry separate pasts and futures, yet move together through shifting landscapes. From this journey emerged the core question of SONICBUS: How can sound architecture mirror displacement, connection, and collective listening?

🔊 Investigation & Experience

Rather than offering a fixed narrative, SONICBUS invites spatial exploration within a 360° sound dome. Our practice was guided by several open inquiries:

Can interactivity emerge organically from audience positioning?

How does personal narrative shift depending on where you stand inside the dome?

In what ways can ambisonic design and curated sonic layers guide listeners through a metaphorical journey?

And ultimately: who are we in this space—audience, listeners, passengers, or fellow travelers?

🏛️ Site-Specific Response

Developed in direct dialogue with Laidi Palace's transitional architecture, the work treats the historic venue as both instrument and resonance chamber. The dome's capacity to transport listeners across geography, memory, and emotional states mirrors our original southbound journey from the Arctic Circle—mapping liminality, shared presence, and acoustic displacement into a single immersive environment.

👥 Collaborators

Oulu Sound Collective ry
Basti Kuhz (DE)
De-Anssi Laiho (FI)
John Collingswood (UK)
Jussi Alaraasakka (FI)
Elias Pajukoski (FI)

Developed through the Open Call 2025 Residency at Laidi Palace

📸 Photos

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