Psychedelic Videos Drill Into Your Skull Friday at The Octagon

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 15, 2012 8:40PM

"How's your brain?" If you were able to respond to that question, then we can safely assume at least one thing about it: it is woefully unmelted. "Your brain is in a box man," animated GIF impresario and Octagon Gallery honcho Jake Myers told us. "Get it out of that box."

To that end, Myers suggests an evening of psychedelic comedy, called "Trepanation," which (for those of you who have spent mercifully less time than we on the creepier parts of the Internet thanks to the Straight Dope message board) is defined as voluntarily making a hole in your skull in order to "improve" your brain. Not a bad metaphor for the gruesome liberation afforded by the head trip advisors of the psychedelic experience.

The event features some artists we really dig, like Tim Burtonwood and the Paper Rad collective, as well as the Paper Rad-affliated Extreme Animals. We're also intrigued by Brooklyn-based Future Machine and what local cartoonists Daniel Kibbelsmith and Scott Whiteman offer. And with iconic Chicago retronauts
Everything is Terrible on the bill, you can be sure that there will be some hilarity among the freakouts.

If you feel your thinking has become very uptight, or if you need to capture that Roger Sterling on acid feeling but can't put your hands on the appropriate pharmaceuticals, the Octagon's roughly 90-minute trip should be just the ticket.

"Trepanation" gets underway Friday, Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. at The Octagon Gallery, 120 N. Green St., Unit 3B.