Mind-Altering Cinema & Realms of the Human Unconscious

With Patricia Pisters

Interactive Lecture, Live Music & Dinner

Sunday, 27 April 2025 at Salon Ruigoord
3-10PM

In 1975, psychiatrist Stanislav Grof published his seminal book Realms of the Human Unconscious, documenting insights from hundreds of legal, regulated LSD therapy sessions conducted in Czechoslovakia over the preceding two decades. He argued that the phenomena observed in psychedelic sessions were manifestations of deep areas of the unconscious, unknown to and unacknowledged by contemporary science. Grof saw this limited conception of the unconscious as a key obstacle to understanding the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Revisiting Grof’s work in light of the current psychedelic renaissance, the question of the unconscious remains as vital as ever. Many patients report that their psychedelic experiences seem to engage the unconscious in ways unlike anything else. But how should we think about the unconscious?

Many of the experiences described in Grof’s four realms—the abstract/aesthetic, psychodynamic, perinatal, and transpersonal—have also found expression in cinema, particularly in genres that explore non-ordinary states of consciousness beyond the limits of normal perception: horror, science fiction, and experimental or expanded cinema. In this Psychedelic Salon, we will explore the deep resonances between psychedelic therapy and film, using Grof’s framework to examine how cinema can itself be psychedelic by other means. What new insights into the psyche, human nature, and the nature of reality emerge when we bring these two worlds together?

Moreover, as media culture continues to encompass the entire globe, expanding into an unruly cinematic realm of its own, we might consider it an externalisation of the unconscious—a vast, collective dreamscape where we encounter the strange, the beautiful, the terrifying, the mind-blowing. A space of bad trips and good trips that forces us to confront profound questions about what it means to be human in a world in crisis.

In the cosy, atmospheric space of Salon Ruigoord, where flickering candlelight and eclectic décor evoke a world between waking and dreaming, we invite you to sink into an evening of expanded perception. This isn’t just a talk—it’s an intimate gathering of curious minds, a live exploration of the unconscious, set in one of The Netherland’s most magical creative sanctuaries.

The event will be interwoven with the live music of the Italian cellist Antonio Alemanno.

What you will learn

• How cinema and psychedelics mirror each other in altering consciousness.
• The four realms of the unconscious described by Grof and their cinematic parallels.
• How expanded cinema (horror, sci-fi, experimental film) explores non-ordinary states of consciousness.
• Why understanding the unconscious is key to psychedelic therapy and how Grof challenges contemporary conceptions of it.
• The role of media culture as an externalised global unconscious—an expanded cinematic landscape of collective experiences.
• How cinema offers new ways to explore and reflect on altered states of consciousness.

Who is this for?

This Psychedelic Salon is for psychedelic explorers, film lovers, and deep thinkers who are fascinated by the intersections of cinema, the unconscious, and the psychedelic experience. Whether you are:

• A psychedelic practitioner or therapist interested in the role of the unconscious in integration and healing.
• A filmmaker, artist, or cinephile drawn to the mind-altering power of cinema.
• A philosopher, psychologist, or researcher exploring the science and mythology of non-ordinary states of consciousness.
• An adventurous explorer ready to dive into the mysteries of the psyche and the world of expanded perception.

If you are curious about how film and psychedelics reflect and reshape human consciousness, this Psychedelic Salon is for you.

Who is Patricia Pisters?

Patricia Pisters is professor of film at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam. As film-philosopher, she writes about the role of film and media in respect to (collective) un/consciousness and ecological approaches to media. She is board member of the Open Foundation for Psychedelic Research.
Discover more of her work: www.patriciapisters.com

Programme

15:00 – 15:30 | Arrival & Welcome
15:30 – 17:30 | Interactive Lecture Pt. 1 – Introduction + Abstract/Aesthetic & Psychodynamic Realms
18:00 – 19:00 | Dinner (vegetarian)
19:00 – 21:00 | Interactive Lecture Pt. 2 – Perinatal & Transpersonal Realms
21:00 – 22:00 | Drinks

This event will be conducted in English.

We are not able to offer refunds.