Mesmer Prism | Till Holzapfel Source: https://mesmerprism.com/ Canonical HTML: https://mesmerprism.com/ Generated: 2026-05-26 Description: XR systems, citizen-science tools, visual instruments, and essays for altered-perception design. Mesmer Prism makes strange experience vivid, inspectable, and evidence-bounded. Markdown: https://mesmerprism.com/index.md Plain text: https://mesmerprism.com/index.txt BibTeX references: https://mesmerprism.com/index.bib CSL JSON references: https://mesmerprism.com/index.references.csl.json --- Till Holzapfel Mesmer Prism Mesmer Prism is Till Holzapfel's public interface for altered-perception design: XR systems, citizen-science tools, visual instruments, and essays that make breath, light, imagery, and body boundaries inspectable. The design philosophy is bounded transformation: let experience change, but keep agency, apparatus, variables, sources, and limits visible. Start with live systems, perception tools, embodiment essays, research maps, or publications. Enter the work (https://mesmerprism.com/#work) Publications (https://mesmerprism.com/#publications) Contact (https://mesmerprism.com/#contact) Projects Choose a route Systems, tools, essays, and references sit together here so the reader can move by use, topic, or artifact. Use or inspect a system Work with tools and instruments Read a research map Public record and contact Across the work: tune the condition, preserve agency, record what changed, and keep mechanisms and claims separate. XR research system Viscereality (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality.html) A Quest-based bioresponsive VR research system. The participant runtime links breath, cardiac rhythm, oscillator visuals, and visual state changes; the operator side handles launch, monitoring, study-shell control, and session evidence. Status Active research collaboration Artifact Quest runtime + Windows operator workflow Record Public overview + proceedings papers XR / Biofeedback / Quest / Operator tooling / Research Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality.html) Project site (https://viscereality.org/) Quest companion tools (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality-companion.html) Docs & downloads (https://mesmerprism.github.io/ViscerealityCompanion/) Meta Quest operator tooling Quest Companion Tools (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality-companion.html) Windows and Android utilities for operating Meta Quest research builds from outside the headset: install, launch, cast, monitor, capture proof, and export diagnostics without rebuilding the same operator workflow for every project. Status Active tooling Artifact Windows companion app + Android experiments Role Developer and workflow maintainer Quest / Windows app / Android companion / ADB / Diagnostics Tooling overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality-companion.html) Current repo (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR-Companion-Apps) Earlier docs (https://mesmerprism.github.io/ViscerealityCompanion/) Rust for XR and Quest experiments Rusty XR (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/rusty-xr.html) A public Rust workspace for reusable XR contracts, schemas, diagnostics, Quest examples, broker models, camera and depth utilities, hand and particle primitives, strobe safety descriptors, and companion-app interfaces. Status Public repo Artifact Rust crates, Quest examples, and docs Use Reproducible XR contracts across tools Rust / OpenXR / Vulkan / Meta Quest / Tooling Technical overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/rusty-xr.html) Source repo (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR) Passthrough guide (https://mesmerprism.github.io/Rusty-XR/passthrough.html) Biofeedback sensor integration Polar H10 Work (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/polar-h10.html) Public Polar H10 work across minimal signal packages, Rusty XR data contracts, Quest broker streams, Windows capture, Android phone diagnostics, Unity Quest integration, and Viscereality research tooling. The focus is clear stream ownership, inspectable routing, and reusable biosignal contracts. Status Active tooling and research support Artifact Signal packages, decoders, broker routes, capture tools, and docs Use Heart, RR, ECG, and accelerometer paths for XR Polar H10 / BLE / PMD / LSL / Quest / Windows / Android Project overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/polar-h10.html) Signal packages (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/polar-h10-signals) Pipeline docs (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR/blob/main/docs/BLE_LSL_POLAR_PIPELINE.md) Windows capture (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR-Companion-Apps/blob/main/docs/polar-h10-windows-capture.md) Depth inversion research instrument Hollow Face Lab (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/hollow-face-lab.html) Depth-inversion experiments need stimulus controls that survive renderer changes. Hollow Face Lab connects hollow-face research with WebGL, WebXR, Rusty XR, asset provenance, and design rationale. Status Prototype instrument Artifact Browser/WebXR lab design Focus Stimulus variables and response logging Hollow face / WebXR / Three.js / Rusty XR / Stimulus variables Overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/hollow-face-lab.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/hollow-face-lab.html#references) Rusty XR (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/rusty-xr.html) Live citizen-science web collaboration Altered Xperience Project (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/altered-xperience-project.html) A CIRCE-led citizen-science survey for anonymous altered-state reports. The page explains how the public survey, multilingual questionnaires, feedback, scoring, privacy boundaries, research exports, and collaborator workflow fit together. Status Live survey collaboration Artifact Survey app + access guide Role Web infrastructure and collaborator tooling Citizen science / Shiny / Survey systems / Open science / CIRCE System overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/altered-xperience-project.html) Live AXP survey (https://alteredxproject.com/) Access guide (https://mesmerprism.com/axp-mvp-survey-guide/) Embodiment and design research Plasmatic Multitudes (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/plasmatic-multitudes.html) A vocabulary for bodies that soften, distribute, glow, swarm, or become collective while remaining readable as bodies. The design rule is simple: center stable, periphery negotiable. Status Essay and design vocabulary Artifact Overview + field guide Use XR embodiment and avatar translation Embodiment / XR / Media theory / Interface design Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/plasmatic-multitudes.html) Deep field guide (https://mesmerprism.com/plasmatic-multitudes/) Long essay (https://mesmerprism.com/plasmatic-multitudes/essay.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/plasmatic-multitudes/references.html) Writing and conceptual synthesis SANE (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/sane.html) A four-part framework for experiences that cannot be explained by body practice, tool design, narrative, or feedback loops alone. It asks what each layer contributes before joining them. Status Proposed framework Artifact Source-grounded public essay Focus Body, tools, meaning, and systems Somaesthetic / Anthropotechnical / Noetic / Emergent Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/sane.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/sane.html#references) Tulpas, thoughtforms, and inner agency Tulpas (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/tulpas.html) A careful reference guide to modern tulpamancy language, cultivated inner companions, thoughtforms, headmates, imposition, plurality, and related agency vocabularies without turning them into one lineage. Status Research guide Artifact Source-rich public article Focus Language, sources, and lineages Tulpamancy / Imposition / Plurality / Inner agency Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/tulpas.html) Evidence (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/tulpas.html#evidence) Prophantasia (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/prophantasia.html) Phenomenological Control (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/phenomenological-control.html) Knowledge-art and research method Scientific Surrealism (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/scientific-surrealism.html) A dream bureau, scientific-looking journal, diagram, or experimental machine becomes surrealist here when it changes what counts as an observation. The page keeps apparatus, art history, and pseudoscience separate. Status Research map Artifact Public article + references Focus Apparatus, observation, and knowledge-art Surrealism / Wissenskunst / Archives / Modern science Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/scientific-surrealism.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/scientific-surrealism.html#references) Altered perception and induced vision Brain Candy (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/brain-candy.html) A design and research project about how rhythmic light, recursive visual structure, sound, breath, and expectation can shape non-drug state shifts. It is about tunable experience design, not clinical treatment or psychedelic substitution. Strobotorch remains separate Android tooling for visual signal encoding, visual signal decoding, and flashlight-safety boundaries. Status Hybrid design collaboration + evidence map Artifact Project site + evidence overview Focus Tunable state-shift design Cyberdelics / Fractal fluency / Rhythm / VR design Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/brain-candy.html) V1 form constants (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/bressloff-v1-form-constants.html) Project site (https://braincandyapp.com/) Independent Android signal tooling Strobotorch (https://mesmerprism.com/Strobotorch/) An Android flashlight signaling and diagnostics tool. It uses torch and camera APIs for visible-light signal experiments, device-behavior logging, and safety documentation. Status Public MIT-licensed tooling Artifact Android app + safety guide Focus Torch and camera signal diagnostics Android / Visual signals / Camera diagnostics / Torch APIs Project page (https://mesmerprism.com/Strobotorch/) Scope (https://mesmerprism.com/Strobotorch/project-boundary/) Sources (https://mesmerprism.com/Strobotorch/sources/) Source repo (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Strobotorch) Interactive visual-cortex simulator Bressloff V1 Form Constants (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/bressloff-v1-form-constants.html) A Rust/browser implementation and article for Bressloff-style V1 planforms, retino-cortical mapping, orientation contours, branch-selection controls, named paper presets, Rule flicker diagnostics, and generated MacKay, Bolelli, and Nicks driven-field reports. The page keeps each model family inspectable without reusing private paper figures. Status Interactive article + public repo Artifact Browser figures and Rust renderer Focus V1 planforms, flicker, and driven fields Rust / V1 model / Retino-cortical maps / Form constants Article (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/bressloff-v1-form-constants.html) Deep dive (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/bressloff-v1-form-constants-deep-dive.html) Source code (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/bressloff-v1-form-constants) Original notebook (https://github.com/karacsm/V1-sim) Simulated psychedelic vision Deep Dream (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/deep-dream.html) An account of DeepDream, hallucination-machine methods, community replication culture, and the narrow conditions under which simulated DeepDream fits inside the wider history of psychedelic visual simulation. Status Long-form research article Artifact Evidence guide + references Focus Visual simulation and provenance Machine vision / VR / Psychedelic simulation / Provenance Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/deep-dream.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/deep-dream.html#references) Static motion and perceptual mechanics Optical Movement Illusions (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/optical-movement-illusions.html) A mechanism-first account of peripheral drift, Rotating Snakes, and adjacent static motion illusions, kept close to eye-movement, luminance, and filter-design evidence. Status Mechanism guide Artifact Public article + references Use Design translation from psychophysics Vision science / Motion illusions / Filters / Psychophysics Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/optical-movement-illusions.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/optical-movement-illusions.html#references) Imagery, suggestion, and mechanism Phenomenological Control (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/phenomenological-control.html) A synthesis of imagery variation, absorption, expectancy, hypnotic suggestibility, and how subjective variation meets physiology, lesion evidence, and newer shared-code findings. Status Research guide Artifact Public synthesis + references Focus Expectation, imagery, and source monitoring Imagery / Absorption / Suggestion / Meaning-making Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/phenomenological-control.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/phenomenological-control.html#references) Projected imagery and field mapping Prophantasia (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/prophantasia.html) A guide to reports of internally generated imagery that seems external, overlaid on the world, or located outside the ordinary mind's eye. It keeps measurement, community practice, and safety signals separate. Status Research map Artifact Evidence guide + future survey framing Focus Projected imagery report categories Mental imagery / Aphantasia / Imposition / Measurement Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/prophantasia.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/prophantasia.html#references) Retinal stimulation and patterned light Fractal Optics (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/fractal-optics.html) A bounded account of the Russian fractal-phototherapy line and its retinal, ophthalmic, lighting, and comparator literatures. Fractal structure is treated as stimulus, not vibe. Status Evidence map Artifact Public article + reference audit Focus Fractal structure as stimulus Retina / Fractals / VR delivery / Comparator studies Research overview (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/fractal-optics.html) References (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/fractal-optics.html#references) Code and prototypes GitHub and research tooling Public repositories include Rusty XR, Rusty XR Companion Apps, Polar H10 routing and capture work, Strobotorch, browser prototypes, simulation tools, and shareable research infrastructure. Study-bound runtimes are summarized through documented interfaces, papers, and public references. Status Public repositories Artifact Code, docs, prototypes, and diagnostics Access GitHub and project documentation Repositories / Simulations / Tooling / Infrastructure GitHub profile (https://github.com/MesmerPrism) Rusty-XR (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR) Polar H10 work (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/polar-h10.html) Rusty-XR Companion Apps (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Rusty-XR-Companion-Apps) Strobotorch (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/Strobotorch) Bressloff V1 code (https://github.com/MesmerPrism/bressloff-v1-form-constants) AXP access guide (https://mesmerprism.com/axp-mvp-survey-guide/) Publications and presentations Selected outputs across immersive systems, psychophysics, breath interaction, and XR communication. - 2026 Fejer et al. Breathing Space: Spatial Mapping of Breath and Cardiac Biofeedback for Affective State Representation and Coherence Training in Viscereality. (https://doi.org/10.1145/3780045.3780061) AlpCHI 2026 proceedings. - 2025 Fejer et al. Viscereality: A Bio-responsive VR System for Breath-Based Interactions and Coupled Oscillator Dynamics to Augment Altered States of Consciousness. (https://doi.org/10.18420/muc2025-mci-ws11-174) Mensch und Computer 2025 workshop. - 2025 Lobser and Holzapfel. Brain Candy (https://braincandyapp.com/): Flicker Light Stimulation in Virtual Reality. Poster presented at AWE 2025, IVRHA 2025, and MindXR 2025. - 2024 Roebuck Williams et al. Measuring the Limit of Perception of Bond Stiffness of Interactive Molecules in VR via a Gamified Psychophysics Experiment. (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71707-9_13) XR SALENTO 2024 proceedings. Background My background moves between cognitive science, HCI, psychophysics, media theory, and research writing. The essays name concepts, lineages, and source limits before carrying those questions into XR systems, browser simulations, physiological sensing, and embodied prototypes. Across Plasmatic Multitudes (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/plasmatic-multitudes.html), SANE (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/sane.html), Tulpas (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/tulpas.html), Scientific Surrealism (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/scientific-surrealism.html), Rusty XR (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/rusty-xr.html), Polar H10 Work (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/polar-h10.html), Quest Companion Tools (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/viscereality-companion.html), Hollow Face Lab (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/hollow-face-lab.html), Altered Xperience Project (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/altered-xperience-project.html), Brain Candy (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/brain-candy.html), Strobotorch (https://mesmerprism.com/Strobotorch/), Bressloff V1 Form Constants (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/bressloff-v1-form-constants.html), Deep Dream (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/deep-dream.html), Optical Movement Illusions (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/optical-movement-illusions.html), Phenomenological Control (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/phenomenological-control.html), Prophantasia (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/prophantasia.html), and Fractal Optics (https://mesmerprism.com/projects/fractal-optics.html), the recurring terrain is altered perception, weakly bounded bodies, phenomenological variation, and the practical conditions that make strange experience legible without flattening it. Core strengths - Unity and C# for XR and interactive systems - Biofeedback, breath interaction, and interoception-oriented design - Perception research, psychophysics, and embodied HCI - Citizen-science survey systems, research tooling, and public guides - Long-form research writing, source discipline, and conceptual synthesis - Weakly bounded embodiment, avatar design, and plasmatic interaction Current and recent roles - VR Developer & Researcher, Viscereality Project - Citizen-science survey infrastructure, Altered Xperience Project / CIRCE collaboration - Scientific Advisor, Light Clinic (https://light.clinic/) - Visual Artist / Developer / Researcher, Tactile Visualizer Project - Public Outreach & Citizen Science, Intangible Realities Lab Contact If you are building something across XR, altered perception, embodiment, research tooling, or interdisciplinary writing and design, contact me here. - Email mesmerprism@gmail.com (mailto:mesmerprism@gmail.com) - GitHub github.com/MesmerPrism (https://github.com/MesmerPrism) - LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/till-holzapfel-intangiblerealitieslab (https://www.linkedin.com/in/till-holzapfel-intangiblerealitieslab/) - Current project viscereality.org (https://viscereality.org/)