Courtney Stephens

Thinking the Float Tank – Saturday, August 26, 2023 (Day 3)

John C. Lilly and the Float Tank: From “human agents” to Altered States

Speaker Bio:

Courtney Stephens is a writer/director of non-fiction and experimental films. The American Sector, her documentary (co-directed with Pacho Velez) about fragments of the Berlin Wall transplanted to the U.S., was named one of the best films of 2021 in The New Yorker. Her essay film, Terra Femme, comprised of amateur travel footage shot by women in the early 20th century, premiered at MoMA and has toured widely as a live performance. Stephens is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Fulbright Scholarship to India. She is collaborating, with Michael Almereyda, on an essay film about John C. Lilly.

Abstract:

This short video presentation will trace the sensory deprivation tank from Lilly’s early psychiatric writings to its proliferation in pop culture. It will include archival material of Lilly showing a news crew his own tank in Malibu, and reflecting on the meaning of the isolation tank during the tech-accelerating 1990s.