20 years of ideas
Conversations
and
Culture that have
Helped
Shaped minds
Two decades of
Mindful rebellion
Mindful rebellion
In an era obsessed with artificial systems, we host the pure energy of human connection, cultural debate, and intellectual rebellion at the heart of Electric Picnic.
“It started with a simple question: what if a music festival paused to think before it went back out to dance?”
MindField was born in 2004 out of Electric Picnic’s wild spirit of curiosity. From a modest single-tent setup, it has expanded over twenty years to become a legendary six-stage arena of the mind. Here, Nobel laureates, artists, community activists, scientists, and comedians share direct space.
We built this sanctuary because we believe ideas should not exist in cold, isolated lecture halls. They belong in muddy boots, under canvas canopies, shared over pint-cups, where the urgency of critical thinking meets the magic of creative celebration.
Commemorative milestones
Ideas. Debate.
Culture.
Connection.
We are guided by four uncompromised principles that have shaped every program on our stages since day one.
Culture.
Connection.
Communities visitors
100K+
Stage sessions
1,000+
Hosted speakers
500+
Years running
20+
20th
Every August, Electric Picnic transforms into a meeting place for music, creativity and culture. At its heart, MindField offers something different — a place to pause, listen, question and discover.
.png)
Leviathan: Political Cabaret
MindField's public forum, where the weekend's most insightful conversations happen out in the open. Andrew Maxwell hosts the big panels — on America at 250, populism and the broligarchy — while ambassadors, journalists and campaigners take on Europe, Gaza, Amnesty and the housing crisis in between. Mornings open gently with Salon du Chat and the Human Library, where the books are people and the borrowing is a conversation. Come to listen, stay to disagree.
The Word
Poetry, spoken word and music, from eleven in the morning to eleven at night, all three days. The Word gathers Ireland's most vital voices — slam champions and first-timers, collectives and solo poets, folk bands and garage-punk trios — into one tent where the microphone rarely cools. Thirty-six sessions curated by Marty Mulligan and David Hynes, taking in Inklings, Luain Press, The Poetry Kiln Collective, Rising Tide and Dublin's Finest, then handing the night over to the bands.
.png)
Ah, Hear — The Podcast Stage
Ireland's biggest podcasts across the weekend: true crime with Nicola Tallant, politics with the Irish Times, comedy with Ross O'Carroll Kelly and Mike & Vittorio, history with Shite Talk, and RTÉ Documentary on One pulling apart how investigative audio actually gets made. Headphones off, everyone in.
.png)
An Puball Gaeilge: Irish Language Stage
Ceol, ealaíon, cainteanna agus greann a chuirfidh ár dteanga féin chun tosaigh ar bhealach siamsúil ag croí lár phríomhfhéile na tíre an samhradh seo.
.png)
Manifesto: Writing and Ideas
Wild Words does Teenage Kicks: a programme of conversation, stories, poetry and wild words on Friday and Saturday, curated by Dublin poet Jan Brierton; as well as a chill Sunday of literary and cultural chats to open the mind and spirit.
.png)
The Theatre
Drama, dance, opera and broadcast under one roof. Headlined by the Blindboy Podcast, with Colin Murphy's Miasma tracking the doctor who cracked cholera; CoisCéim bring Dancehall Blues; Irish National Opera prove you already know more opera than you think. Niall Breslin and the Polaris Quartet bring their stunning immersive live show, the Brendan O'Connor Show broadcasts to the nation on Sunday morning, and Miriam O'Callaghan sets a brunch table you'd want to be at. It closes with a band of scientists playing funk.
