One of the ten screens on a public Zoom call enlarges to spotlight a couple sitting together behind a cactus. The man is bearded, with short-cropped hair and rocking a starry-night-sky hoodie. His bubbly, bespectacled partner hovers about the screen with straight-cut bangs and a floppy top-ponytail.

“This is our blessing to the museum,” the man says. “May the ancient technologies of the plants and fungus go hand in hand with our futuristic technologies. May we watch these videos not only for our personal pleasure, but for the advancement of our understanding of what is always there, behind the veil. As the ancient mystery unfolds before us in the now, may we always remember with compassion those who do not have access and liberty to use these technologies, or are bound by their own ignorance. May we use this spiritual portal in order to unite on this earth as brothers and sisters in the human experience, which is always intertwined with all that is living around us. Bless the Psychedelic Video Museum.”

On the final note of the blessing, the woman with the top-ponytail takes a long drag from a bowl full of weed and passes it to the man in the hoodie, who does the same. The man and woman in-frame are Boaz and Galia, two good friends and colleagues of Ido Hartogsohn—a psychedelic history PhD and author of “Technomysticism: Consciousness in the Age of Technology.” They have virtually gathered here on April 19, 2020—”Bicycle Day”—for the inauguration ritual of Hartogsohn’s most recent project, the Psychedelic Video Museum. This virtual museum is a collection of 45 curated exhibits drawing from a decade’s worth of videos aggregated by the Daily Psychedelic Video (DPV) community.

Many of the contributors to the DPV platform are in attendance on the Zoom call inauguration, to offer their psychedelic blessings to the project from all around the world. Boaz and Galia see the project off with a hit of weed, as mentioned above. Performance artist couple, Ave and Keren, blow into each other’s noses while they give the project their blessing—creating an incredibly strange, robotic fan voice (weird in the best way possible). Many mantras and prayers are recited by attendees, including the “Ganesha Puja” recitation by “High Weirdness” author Erik Davis. One participant presents a dish with food harvested from her farm throughout the year as an offering to the project. And, another contributor—who goes by the pseudonym “Flexyourlovemuscles”—presents a video he created about the impact that being a part of the DPV community has had on his own creative output. 

“DPV not only showed me a new way to work, but a new way of being,” Flexyourlovemuscles says in his video. “And that happiness and fulfillment is not to be achieved through physical possessions, but through experience, sharing, creativity, and—most of all—love. Long live Daily Psychedelic Video. And, welcome to the world Psychedelic Video Museum.”

Following the blessings of the DPV contributors, Hartogsohn tells the group that he is deeply moved by what everyone had to say, and proceeds to pop a bottle of champagne and toast “To the new Psychedelic Video Museum.” As others raise glasses of wine and bowls of weed on their respective screens, Hartogsohn bites down on a spool of ribbon and stretches it across his screen, makes sure everyone gets a good look at the scissors he raises up, and gives the ribbon an official snip. With this, an hour-long screening of psychedelic videos begins for everyone in attendance to enjoy. 

The whole virtual ritual is quirky and strange and heartfelt in a way that I have never experienced over a Zoom call. Fitting for an online, international project seeking to educate the public on psychedelic mind-states and psychedelic aesthetics. 

On the campus of the virtual museum—which is located at psychedelicvideomuseum.org—45 permanent exhibits are on display, with subjects including, but not limited to, “Soviet Psychedelia,” “Japanese Psychedelia,” “Israeli Psychedelia,” “Sixties Psychedelia,” “Oldie Psychedelia,” “Psychedelic Art Videos,” “Psychedelic Cinema,” “Psychedelic Animation,” “Psychedelic Hip Hop,” “Tribal Psychedelia,” and “Psychedelic Activism.” For the intellectually curious among us, there is also a wonderful essay that Hartogsohn published in the Psychedelic Press, titled “Towards a Science of Psychedelic Aesthetics,” which reflects on the history of psychedelic aesthetics in film and artwork. 

Between Hartogsohn’s essay and the collection of over 700 videos on the site, there is enough material at the virtual museum to provide an interactive master class in psychedelic aesthetics to anyone even slightly interested in the subject. 

So, go check it out. It’s completely free. And, as some of the DPV contributors will tell you, maybe consider getting a little high before you dive in. 

Psymposia’s Highlights: