Representing Altered States of Consciousness in Computer Arts

It has been proposed that among the earliest known artworks produced by humans may have been representations of altered states of consciousness (ASCs). With the advent of modern computer technology that enables the creation of almost any sound or image imaginable, the possibility of representing the subjective visual and aural components of hallucinatory experiences with increased realism emerges. In order to consider how these representations could be created, this paper provides a discussion of existing work that represents ASCs. I commence by providing an overview of ASCs and a brief history of their use in culture. This provides the necessary background through which we may then consider the variety of art and music that represents ASCs, including: shamanic art and music, modern visual art, popular music, film and video games. Through discussion of the ways in which these examples represent ASC, a concept of ‘ASC Simulation’ is proposed, which emphasises realistic representations of ASCs. The paper concludes with a brief summary of several creative projects in computer music and arts that explore this area.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Jonathan Weinel

Conference

Publication date: July 2015

Publication date (Print): July 2015

Pages: 80-87

Affiliations

[0001]Glyndŵr University Plas Coch Campus, Mold Road, Wrexham, LL112AW North Wales, UK

j.weinel@glyndwr.ac.uk

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/eva2015.9

SO-VID: b762d266-b9b4-4948-9e3b-f5a3300639eb

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2015)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 7 & 9 July 2015

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/eva2015.9

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

K Berrin 1979 Art of the Huichol Indians Harry N. Abrams, Inc
P Devereux 2008 The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia Brisbane Daily Grail
P Doyle 2005 Echo and Reverb: Fabricating Space in Popular Music Recording,1900–1960 Wesleyan University Press
J Driver 2001 A selective review of selective attention research from the past century British Journal of Psychology 92.53 78
M Eliade 1979 The Eleusinian Mysteries A History of Religious Ideas: Vol.1 From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries Chicago William Collins Sons & Co
R Fischer 1971 A Cartograph of Ecstatic and Meditative States Leonardo 174 59 66
M Harner 1973 Hallucinogens and Shamanism Oxford University Press
A Hobson 2001 The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness MIT Press
H Klüver 1971 Mescal and Mechanisms of Hallucinations University of Chicago Press
J. D Lewis-WilliamsT.A Dowson 1988 The Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic Art Current Anthropology 29 201 245
A. M Ludwig 1969 Altered States of Consciousness C Tart Altered States of Consciousness: A Book of Readings Wiley
G Milner 2009 Perfecting Sound Forever Granta Books
G Rouget 1985 Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession University of Chicago Press
D Rubin 2010 Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s MIT Press
R. E SchultesA HofmannC Ratsch 1996 Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers 2nd edition. Healing Arts Press
H. E Smith 1973 Kiowa Peyote Meeting [CDr] Folkways Records
G St. John 2011 DJ Goa Gil: Kalifornian Exile, Dark Yogi and Dreaded Anomaly Dancecult: Journal of Electronic and Dance Music Culture 3 1)
D. C Swan 1999 Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief University Press of Mississippi
R. G WassonV. P Wasson 1957 Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico [LP] Folkways Records
W. C Wees 1992 Making Films for the Inner Eye: Jordan Belson, James Whitney, Paul Sharits Light Moving in Time: Studies in the Visual Aesthetics of Avant-garde Film University of California Press
J Weinel 2014 Entoptic Phenomena in Audio [12” Vinyl]. Hardcore Jewellery, JEWEL-001. Available from: http://www.hardcorejewellery.co.uk
J WeinelS CunninghamD Griffiths 2014 Sound Through The Rabbit Hole: Sound Design Based On Reports of Auditory Hallucination ACM Proceedings of Audio Mostly 2014 Aalborg University Denmark

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] K Berrin 1979 Art of the Huichol Indians Harry N. Abrams, Inc

[2] P Devereux 2008 The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia Brisbane Daily Grail

[3] P Doyle 2005 Echo and Reverb: Fabricating Space in Popular Music Recording,1900–1960 Wesleyan University Press

[4] J Driver 2001 A selective review of selective attention research from the past century British Journal of Psychology 92.53 78

[5] M Eliade 1979 The Eleusinian Mysteries A History of Religious Ideas: Vol.1 From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries Chicago William Collins Sons & Co

[6] R Fischer 1971 A Cartograph of Ecstatic and Meditative States Leonardo 174 59 66

[7] M Harner 1973 Hallucinogens and Shamanism Oxford University Press

[8] A Hobson 2001 The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness MIT Press

[9] H Klüver 1971 Mescal and Mechanisms of Hallucinations University of Chicago Press

[10] J. D Lewis-WilliamsT.A Dowson 1988 The Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic Art Current Anthropology 29 201 245

[11] A. M Ludwig 1969 Altered States of Consciousness C Tart Altered States of Consciousness: A Book of Readings Wiley

[12] G Milner 2009 Perfecting Sound Forever Granta Books

[13] G Rouget 1985 Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession University of Chicago Press

[14] D Rubin 2010 Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s MIT Press

[15] R. E SchultesA HofmannC Ratsch 1996 Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers 2nd edition. Healing Arts Press

[16] H. E Smith 1973 Kiowa Peyote Meeting [CDr] Folkways Records

[17] G St. John 2011 DJ Goa Gil: Kalifornian Exile, Dark Yogi and Dreaded Anomaly Dancecult: Journal of Electronic and Dance Music Culture 3 1)

[18] D. C Swan 1999 Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief University Press of Mississippi

[19] R. G WassonV. P Wasson 1957 Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico [LP] Folkways Records

[20] W. C Wees 1992 Making Films for the Inner Eye: Jordan Belson, James Whitney, Paul Sharits Light Moving in Time: Studies in the Visual Aesthetics of Avant-garde Film University of California Press

[21] J Weinel 2014 Entoptic Phenomena in Audio [12” Vinyl]. Hardcore Jewellery, JEWEL-001. Available from: http://www.hardcorejewellery.co.uk

[22] J WeinelS CunninghamD Griffiths 2014 Sound Through The Rabbit Hole: Sound Design Based On Reports of Auditory Hallucination ACM Proceedings of Audio Mostly 2014 Aalborg University Denmark

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65