lee mitchell

Constructed from the industrial detritus found in the average garden shed, The God Helmet™ is a comment on the promise that rapidly developing 21st century technologies will free us from our earthly concerns.

In an age when tech billionaires talk openly about humans becoming AI gods and the traditional religions that our societies have been based on seem threatened, the work questions the wisdom of such promises.

The God Helmet™ is a response to the Koren Helmet, developed by two Canadian neuroscientists in the early 2000s who began experimenting with subtle temporal lobe stimulation associated with how we understand God. Patients reported having profound religious and mystical experiences including hearing voices, seeing visions, out of body experiences, feeling the presence of dead relatives, angels, demons, oneness with the universe, even the presence of God.

The technology is now being trialled in fully immersive video games. These developments pose a host of questions about religion, commerce, and the unification of the two.

The work’s strong industrial construction style speaks to the protective role religion has played in society until recent times. With nostalgic visual references of pop art, 50s sci fi films, the work’s makeshift aesthetic mirrors humanity’s current, embryonic understanding of itself and of God and the potential dangers of such lofty aims. Raising the question are we as advanced as we think? Echoing Einstein’s claim that our technology has exceeded our humanity.