Methods
OTHER/WORLD is an immersive, interactive experience that simulates a psychedelic state through aesthetic and technological means.
We use techniques including:
360 video
Implemented at 2 stages of the process: firstly as a source for projection-mapped visuals, and secondly to capture a VR version of the completed installation. 360 visuals are combined with Ambisonic audio to recreate remote, outdoor sensory ambiences in accessible, urban performance environments.
Ritual Dances
Animistic and Shamanic traditions are an integral part of our team’s culture and artistic training. OTHER/WORLD taps into the time-tested mind-altering power of these techniques, paying homage to ancestral traditions while respectfully adapting them to present, place-specific needs and circumstances such as technology-dependence and cultural hybridity
Neuromodulated Visuals
Projection-mapped “windows” in OTHER/WORLD will feature morphing, geometric Virtual Psychedelia, developed by Dr. Ying Wu’s lab at the USC Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience. These visual modulations will be controlled by EEG brainwave signals recorded during a real psilocybin therapy session, bringing a data profile of psychedelic experience directly into the installation’s visual space.
A prototype magic lantern, made from a takeout container, LED candles and tinfoil. This design uses a simple motif of repeating triangles, based on the fractal motif known as the Sierpinski triangle. Subsequent designs will implement different geometric profiles, as well as more innovative projection grids constructed out of natural materials in order to imbue the illuminated area with more complex patterns such as branching, helical, and insect-track shapes. OTHER/WORLD attendees who RSVP for a lantern will recieve one which is theirs to keep: A touch of psychedelic visual space to bring home.