Cooking the Cosmic Soup: Vincent Moon's Altered States of Live Cinema
Deleuze and Guattari Studies October 27, 2023 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3366/dlgs.2023.0535 via OpenAlex
Summary
Vincent Moon's films and live cinema are described as ‘psychedelic’ for their ability to alter perception and access spiritual dimensions beyond normal human experience. Influenced by shamanic traditions, his work revives the transcendental style of filmmaking, creating immersive performances that evoke altered states of consciousness and connect audiences to magical realities. The chapter discusses how Moon's approach recalls the esoteric history of media and emphasizes the ritualistic nature of his performances.
Study at a glance
| Key finding | Vincent Moon's psychedelic films and live performances can induce altered states of mind and immerse audiences in spiritual realities. |
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Abstract
The films and live cinema of Vincent Moon are considered in this chapter as ‘psychedelic’: a form of filmmaking and film performances that can open the doors of perception to invisible realms of percepts, affects and durations that are beyond or below ordinary human perception. According to Paul Schrader, films can evoke such spiritual dimensions, in particular through what he called the transcendental style of film, and what Gilles Deleuze termed the time-image. As an audio-visual ethnographer of world religions who is distinctly influenced by shamanic and animistic traditions, Moon brings the transcendental style back to its plane of immanence. His live cinema performances have a ritualistic and ecstatic aspect that recalls the esoteric history of haunted media. Moon's enthralling film performances induce altered states of mind, tap into spiritual realities and immerse the audience in magic.