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Museum offers night on a magic mushroom

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BERLIN | Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:57am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - Visitors to Berlin's Museum for Contemporary Art can book themselves a night in an installation created by artist Carsten Hoeller at a cost of 1,000 euros ($1,400) as of November 5.

The installation, which includes a floating hotel room on a platform shaped like a mushroom, gives guests an "opportunity to dive into the world of soma," the museum said.

Soma is a mythical drink with powers to heal, enlighten and provide access to the divine, according to the beliefs of Vedic nomads in northern India during the second millennium BC.

It is no longer known what soma was made of, but research suggests the fly agaric mushroom, more popularly known as "magic mushrooms," may have been the ingredient responsible for its effect. This provided Hoeller with the inspiration for his fantastical installation.

The exhibition, which explores how to achieve enlightenment and the role given to science and myth in society, will be open until February 6 next year.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Steve Addison)
Oddly Enough
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Comments (3)
Stobe wrote:
Fly Agaric is not the mushroom commonly refered to as “Magic”. That would be psilocybin cubensis. Fly Agaric or Amanita Musaria is psychoactive and is thought by some to be the key ingredient in the fabled Soma of Vedic mythology, but it is also quite toxic. Any magic mushroom enthusiast would tell you not to mess with Fly Agaric unless you are prepared for a rough trip that has very little in common with a reletively benign psilocybin trip. Considering that Fly Agaric grows in almost every neighborhood in the UK, Europe, the Northern U.S. and Canada (anywhere that pine trees and birch grow together) and is quite dangerous, your mis-identifying it as “magic mushrooms” is irresponsible and possibly fatal to anyone who reads this article and gets ideas about the familiar mushrooms with the red skin and white spots growing out back. Next time consider the consequences of your sensationalistic use of pop-culture references (magic mushroom) before you get some kid killed. And kids, yes they will get you high but you will trip that you are in hell, you will puke out your guts and you might die. So just pay for the real magic mushrooms and leave the toadstools to the toads.

Oct 25, 2010 7:48pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
johnswamy wrote:
I second that, Aminita is bad news not magic mushrooms

Oct 27, 2010 1:31pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
DisgustedReader wrote:
Wow, 1,000 euros ($1,400) is a bargain to spend the night getting high off magic mushrooms. What 1960’s hippy could have conceived such a psychodelic future for the world of soma? I’ll bet Timothy Leary put the museum up to this!

Oct 28, 2010 1:19pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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