A free travelling mental health lab.
Free access. Dissolving stigma. Clear pathways to support.
- Dissolving Stigma
- Music, fashion and shared activities give young people a natural way to start a conversation about mental health.
- Transforming Access
- Young people can take part online through the Universal Mind digital platform and watch live TV. The Linfox road train brings the festival, micro schools and in-person support to regional communities.
- Free to Participate
- Young people can attend the festival and take part in its micro schools for free.
- Transforming Referral Pathways
- Young people can join through a headspace referral, a school nomination or their own expression of interest. A welcome conversation connects them with optional on-site support and local services after the festival. Referral pathways can begin in the real, and the experience continues online after the event, 24/7, 365 days a year.
The shared support space brings together headspace, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists (AABCAP).
Universal Academy
Our micro schools develop creative technology skills for the world of work. Students, mentors and clients learn together through workshops responding to live briefs in music, film, fashion and science.
STEAM
Guided by the Universal Mind values, participants learn to use AI critically for music and film, fashion design and pattern making, and building and testing websites and applications. Pathways extend into AI agents, genomics and bioinformatics, and quantum computing.
Inspired by Life Be In It and the idea of taking health promotion on the road, Universal Mind brings a new focus: mental health. First and foremost for youth aged 16–24, then for all Australians, the Lab brings creativity, learning and support into the heart of local communities.
The vision brings CSIRO technology, Universal Mind, headspace and New South Wales Education together as one, shaped in collaboration with the communities we visit.
This is creativity as mindfulness.
Learn STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — while experiencing world-class DJs, artists and bands, together as one. Make music on smart devices, explore responsive technology and learn by creating.
Learn fashion skills, design a runway show and take the first steps towards your own fashion label, on the day. Indigenous fashion, local creativity and collaboration run through the experience.
Change your emotions. Change your world.
Our level of connection to Earth, to ourselves and to each other shapes the light and sound.
In the proposed experience, Apple Watch supplies heart-rhythm data to Immersion Neuroscience’s SIX platform. The Lab uses proxies for cortisol and oxytocin, with a smaller role for dopamine, to guide the environment. The watch measures cardiac signals. The neurochemical interpretation is inferred.
Apple Watch, teamLab, TDC and Arup form the partnership direction for the experience.
- Connection to our earth. Feel your feet on the ground, or the support beneath you as you sit.
- Connection to self. Feel your breath. Feel your body.
- Connection to each other.
From anxiety to peace of mind: a Universal Mind journey through connection to our earth, ourselves and each other.
A travelling lab. A lasting local connection.
A Linfox road train carries the Lab into a green space beside the water. A vaulted main pavilion, sculptural food and play areas, a fashion runway and individual listening spaces bring the programme together. Moroso Tropicália furniture by Patricia Urquiola creates places to gather and pause.
We propose licensing the Norman Foster Foundation’s Droneport design for the main pavilion and working with Zaha Hadid Architects on bespoke architecture across the entire site. The Volu Dining Pavilion is one reference for the smaller pavilions, and the Striatus bridge inspired the playground. Our vision is futuristic architecture that blends with nature, uses local materials where possible and can be reused from one community to the next.
Local collaboration shapes the architecture, materials, activities and ongoing use. In consultation with residents and local councils, we offer to donate the structures to the community, free of charge, as mindfulness and community spaces after the Lab has completed its visit. The council can take responsibility for the upkeep, or the space can be co-managed with Universal Mind for continued local programs.
The interactive biofeedback demonstration collects no health data. Applications are not collected on this page.
universalmind[lab]electronic music and fashion as mindfulness