Saturday 17 October, 11am–7pm · Sunday 18 October, 11am–5pm
The Light Eaters is a convergence of art, light and altered states of consciousness, unfolding across Vision Hall and The Salon at Town Hall for one weekend.
Curated by Virginia Damtsa and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, the exhibition features work by Amanda Feilding, Brion Gysin, Carsten Höller, Philip Vermeulen, Loie Hollowell, Chris Levine, Liliane Lijn, Tomás Saraceno, James Turrell and Leo Villareal, with two immersive installations: Chasing the Dot by Philip Vermeulen and Higher Power by Chris Levine.
On Saturday, four panels ask how the brain builds perception and the self, whether a machine could ever be conscious, what altered states reveal about ordinary experience, and where perceptual art ends and spectacle begins.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The science of the self
How the brain constructs perception and the sense of self, “controlled hallucination”, interoception, and what consciousness science can actually establish.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?
Machine consciousness
Whether an AI could ever have subjective experience, how we would know, and what moral obligations could arise if we genuinely couldn’t rule consciousness out.
Altered States
Psychedelics, meditation and hallucination
What psychedelic states, meditation, dreaming and hallucination reveal about how ordinary perception is constructed.
The Doors of Perception
Art at the limits of perception
Artists using light, sound, immersion and duration to act directly on the nervous system, and the distinction between genuinely perceptual art and spectacle.
Chasing the Dot: Ganzfeld = Wavefield is Philip Vermeulen’s immersive light work, in which visitors are enveloped in fields of shifting colour. It had its world premiere at Lowlands festival in the Netherlands in August 2026, where 10,000 people queued to experience it over three days, and has been acquired by Kunstmuseum Den Haag for its collection.
Philip Vermeulen, Chasing the Dot. Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg
Philip Vermeulen, Chasing the Dot. Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg
Philip Vermeulen, Chasing the Dot. Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg
Philip Vermeulen, Chasing the Dot. Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg
Saturday 17 October: 11am–7pm
Sunday 18 October: 11am–5pm
Vision Hall & The Salon
Town Hall by Bottaccio, Bidborough Street, London WC1H 9AU
Register to attend
In partnership with Double Moon, with support from The Dutch Embassy.
