Hallucinations in Film, Literature and Art
From 5 March to 23 May 2026, the Vandenhove Centre for Architecture and Art (Ghent University) presents an exhibition on Henri Michaux (1899–1984), a key figure of the twentieth-century Parisian avant-garde. Known for his imaginative poetry and travel writing about both real and imaginary lands, Michaux also developed a distinctive visual style associated with informal art and lyrical abstraction.
From the mid-1950s onward, Michaux experimented with hallucinogens such as mescaline as a creative tool. Less widely known is that this psychedelic phase also led to a short film: Images du monde visionnaire (1963), made with French filmmaker Éric Duvivier and produced by the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, which was interested in Michaux’s descriptions of altered perception. The exhibition places the film within a unique intersection of psychopharmacology, experimental cinema, visionary poetry, and abstract art. Alongside the film, visitors will see drawings, paintings, and lithographs by Michaux from the Vandenhove collection and other institutions, as well as first editions, posters, and archival materials that offer insight into his hallucinatory universe.
In connection with the exhibition, several film screenings take place in Ghent. On 10 March at KASKcinema, a programme includes films by Éric Duvivier: Concerto mécanique pour la folie ou la folle métamorphose (1963) and Le Monde du schizophrène (1961), alongside Calligraphie japonaise (1957) by Pierre Alechinsky and L’ordre (1973) by Jean-Daniel Pollet. On 23 March at Art Cinema OFFoff, the programme pairs Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome by Kenneth Anger with La femme 100 têtes (1967), Duvivier’s homage to Max Ernst.
The exhibition is curated by Mats Antonissen and Steven Jacobs. It is accompanied by the book Images du monde visionnaire (1963): Henri Michaux & Film (MER.Books).
Image: Images du monde visionnaire (Henri Michaux & Éric Duvivier, 1963) Production: ScienceFilm & Sandoz