The Wellcome Collection has produced a six-part digital story about the rise to popularity of mesmerism and hypnotism in the 1800s, and their fall from grace in mainstream psychiatry. Titled “Mindcraft: A Century of Madness, Murder and Mental Healing,” the story includes music, drawings, pictures and excerpts from old texts.
The introduction reads:
Mindcraft explores a century of madness, murder and mental healing, from the arrival in Paris of Franz Anton Mesmer with his theories of ‘animal magnetism’ to the therapeutic power of hypnotism used by Freud.
Through an immersive scrolling interface including image galleries, video, and interactives, Mindcraft will take you on a journey that asks who really is in control of their own mind, and where does the mind’s power to harm or heal end?
Mindcraft is written by author and curator Mike Jay, and developed by award-winning digital agency Clearleft. Mindcraft can be explored on a desktop browser or tablet.
Mindcraft (Wellcome Collection)
Launch Mindcraft (Wellcome Collection)
