Altered State of Consciousness in Virtual Reality: Try It Yourself

HiTecher’s staff is against drugs, but you do not need hallucinogens to have a psychedelic experience in the 21st century. Illicit drugs and shamanistic practices are being replaced by high technologies.

The nooks and crannies of human consciousness can now be explored using virtual reality. There is a number of famous artists currently working to immerse a viewer in an audio-visual trance. We will tell you about a couple of the most outstanding works in this area.

The author of the first one is French director Jan Kounen who has been fascinated with shamanistic culture for over 15 years. He wrote several books and even made a documentary on the subject. In his Ayahuasca project he tried to recreate the effect of the psychedelic brew with the same name, but using virtual reality. Click the link below to watch the film trailer.

Visionarium is another brilliant VR project authored by artist Sander Bos. The work echoes the main motifs of Kunen's Ayahuasca: a user takes another journey through incredible hypnotic worlds. However, the application is undoubtedly unique and produces an excellent effect.

Experts believe that the main challenge lies in natural limitations of VR effect on the user's brain. Neural interfaces directly connected to the nervous system could be the answer.

You can download relevant applications and even buy project merchandise on their official websites.