Guest post: Kinetic Sculptures and Trance

Now it can be told (a year and a bit after the original post): this occurred at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, MA, and we tranced in front of a bunch of different kinetic sculptures. The lovely one my partner wrote about, and which gave me the whole idea when I saw it on a previous trip, is called Ialu by John Douglas Powers. Here's a video of it.

This was my first "art trancing", and the first I've ever heard of, so I'm pleased I got to do it some more at the MFA, and even inspired my friends djpynchon and Lee Allure to do it at the Art Institute of Chicago, which also has an awesome writeup.
--
I'm always dying to know what my trance partner is experiencing during hypnosis, and so I always enjoy the post-trance chat almost as much as the hypnosis itself. But it's rare that I get a beautiful description, in writing, of how it felt. The backstory is that I had the idea of taking this partner into trance while she was looking at a kinetic art sculpture, and letting her lose herself in it for an extended period of time. All kinks have pluses and minuses (not that we get to choose our kinks), and while hypnosis is hard to do in noisy environments, and often isn't too exciting for others to watch, unlike say flogging it has the plus that it can easily be done outside and in public places without getting into trouble. Or disturbing others at all: to anyone giving us a second glance it would just have looked like someone who was really, really into the art. As was her far less still companion, who sometimes leaned over to murmur into her ear. We began by finding a quiet corner and doing a few short trances, using her reinduction trigger, which included practicing standing while in trance (in heels!) and staying in trance with eyes open. Then we sat in front of the sculpture and I gave her the trigger. On her request, we went back for seconds later, meaning that she might have stared at it for as much as 20 minutes in total - that has to be some kind of record for appreciating that piece of art!

Here is my trance partner's Fetlife post about the experience, reprinted with her permission. This was so compelling, not to mention immensely gratifying, for me to read. What a great way to spend an afternoon.

--

Kinetic Sculptures and Trance

My body is relaxed. It's beyond relaxed. It's weight, it's matter, it doesn't belong to me anymore. It's on the ground and I am in the clouds. The reeds swayed back and forth, back and forth, the clouds rolled through the sky dark then light. Rolling clouds, swimming through tall, tan reeds. My eyes rarely blinking, engulfed in the sculpture. The passers by don't phase me, they don't disturb my trance. I was in the reeds, I was in the clouds. I could feel my body sway with them, trusting my subconscious to keep me upright. I felt the storm coming, the darkness approaching, the birds chirping wildly to warn me. I felt the reeds swish along my skin, enveloping my body. I was in a field somewhere far away.

Most intense, full body hypnosis experience to date. Incredible.