Sound Installations and Soundscapes for Galleries and Museums
This exhibition explored the history of Japan’s elite warrior class, separating reality from manufactured myth. Highlighting samurai not just as fighters, but as a diverse social class which included women, bureaucrats and those who served as intellectuals and patrons of the arts during the period in Japan’s history known as “the long peace.”
My part in the exhibition was to recreate a virtual cityscape to illustrate how the city of Edo (modern day Tokyo) may have sounded in the 17th century. Throughout, I worked in collaboration with the curation team to ensure all sounds used were historically accurate as much as possible.
Celebratory Taiko drumming, bells from the temple shrines, shouts of market hawkers and Kabuki theatre performers, horses cantering over city streets as locals go about there daily business and black headed gulls shrieking over the harbour all contributed to the the soundscape heard throughout the gallery. The piece was created from dozens of individual and unique recordings which I was able to source from numerous talented recordist across Japan.
© 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
© 2026 Kerry Bailey
““Throughout, the display feels wonderfully immersive, and makes for a perfect back drop to the objects being displayed. There is a sense of deep drama and respectfulness that draws the visitor in from start to finish.””
“An extraordinary encounter
☆☆☆☆☆”
“The British Museum has done a good job of creating an atmospheric and immersive space”
”
The soundscape is 20 mins long and presented over a custom surround system across the Sainsbury exhibition gallery.
Ancient India, living traditions
Sainsbury gallery- British Museum 2026
Creation of a soundscape to compliment this colourful, multi-sensory and atmospheric exhibition in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery at the museum.
Reaching back more than 2000 years this large exhibition featured over 180 sculptures, paintings, drawings and manuscripts, It explored the origins of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art and its spread across the world.
The intention of the soundscape was to evoke a sense of India’s devotional religious practices alongside sounds of the regions unique nature.
“There is also a real sense that this is an immersive experience, with curtains that swish effortlessly as you breeze through each section, the soft lighting and a variety of natural sounds through the soundscape makes you feel that you are stepping into a different world”
The soundscape featured the evocative sounds of the Indian koel, barbets, peacocks and elephants, amongst many others, These recordings are heard alongside the chants, bells, drums and other devotional sounds. In tandem these sounds created the virtual ancient atmosphere which echoed throughout the galleries.
Sounds were sourced from many locations across the region, from peacocks in the rice fields of Sri Lanka to the prayer wheels spinning in monasteries set into the foothills of the Himalayas.
“There is much to linger over in this atmospherically staged exhibition, with its wafting silk drapes, soothing lighting, and soundtrack of birdsong, temple bells.
”
“Ethereal. Passionate. An exhibition with a true sense of mystery
☆☆☆☆☆
”
© 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
© 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
Hiroshige - Artist of the Open Road
Great Court Gallery - British Museum, London 2025
Exhibition link
For this commission, I created a soundscape to compliment the exhibition of Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige’s paintings and woodblock prints of the natural world. From bush warblers and cranes to frog choruses and cicadas, recordings from Japan’s unique wilderness were brought together to create ’Nature All Around’.
From a central point at the heart of the gallery sounds slowly rotated around visitors; morphing, evolving and changing as they followed a route across Hiroshige’s Japan. The soundscape, featuring the flora and fauna depicted in Hiroshige’s art, such as the peaceful tones of bamboo trunks knocking together as they sway in the summer breeze or gentle birdsong, enhanced the visitor experience. From a carefully placed bench at the centre of the room, visitors could immerse themselves in this virtual landscape.
Working in tandem with the curators and design teams at the museum and through my own extensive research, I sourced sounds from many talented recordists who specialise in the subtle art of capturing natural environments.
The 24 minute long mix is comprised of around 70 different recordings edited and mixed together. It was played over a custom installed and fully immersive speaker system and mixed in surround sound format.
A highly commended exhibition, the prints, curation, artefacts and setting were all stunning.
© 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
© 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
““Hiroshige’s own influences from nature are brought inside in the form of rain, bird, and insect soundscapes, bringing the pieces on display to life and – for those who have seen Japan for themselves – a sense of nostalgic tranquillity reminiscent of the very sounds that inspired his work”
”
“Spellbinding and Cinematic
☆☆☆☆☆
”
Orbital
Cosm Studios / Planetary Collective - Los Angeles - 2025
Orbital is an award-winning, shared immersive experience created by Cosm Studios and the Planetary Collective. The 30-minute film takes audiences on a meditative journey into space to look back at Earth, offering the awe-inspiring emotional "Overview Effect" through the first-hand accounts and voices of astronauts and cosmonauts.
The experience relies on hyper-real footage and sound to transport viewers through an abstract landscape of light, auroras, and Earth's bioluminescence.
I undertook all of the sound design and editing for the project which was mixed for the Cosm speaker system which uses 38 discrete loudspeakers and 15 subwoofers situated directly behind the dome canvas.
Audio was mapped to match the visual trajectories seen on the 87-foot spherical screen, placing specific sound objects in a 3D acoustic field that travels around the audience.
“Winner of the Innovation award 2025”
“Lumiere Award for best location based Entertainment 2025”
“Nominee:
Immersive & Games
Science & Education 2025”
Ghosts of Old Havana
Merton Arts Space London 2022
Part of the exhibition “Sound and Vision”. Curated by artist Robert Dunt
Immersive soundscape remix of an original studio performance by guitarist Owen Houlston and Clarinetist Bob Morgan.
The piece was played in the gallery alongside visual art created from a selected group of contemporary experimental musicians and composers, as well as work from visual artists who have taken inspiration from music and sound. Several of my own photographs were included as part of the exhibition.
The track was created as a piece of “Musique concrète” and evokes a musical performance by a band which never really existed in a place which in reality never existed. The track is formed of the heavily edited and processed original studio recordings, mixed with atmospheric sounds and sound effects recorded throughout Latin America.
Waves of Gold - Photograph by Robin Green
© Robert Dunt 2022
