Orgone Accumulator Installed in Library

The Centre for Experimental Ontology has, in collaboration with the University’s Lincoln School of Architecture and the Built Environment, constructed a real Orgone Accumulator. It was constructed as part of an MA student project under the supervision of Dr Marcin Kolakowski and Doina Carter.

So, what is an Orgone Accumulator?

In 1939 Wilhelm Reich (erstwhile pupil of Sigmund Freud) claimed to have discovered the universal life energy. This force he called Orgone. As a Freudian, Reich firmly believed that this force was deeply connected to the sexual-drive function described by Freud (libido). The name of the energy reflects this commitment –being probably derived from organism/orgasm and hormone. Reich ‘discovered’ orgone in experimental work in which he claimed to have seen microscopic structures radiating a blue energy; these he called bions. This blue energy he called ‘Orgone’ and Reich believed it was the foundation for life itself.

The ‘Orgone Accumulator’ is a pseudo-scientific device that makes use of this ‘observation’. Reich thought layers of organic/non-organic matter attract and trap orgone, hence making possible devices of an enclosing nature that produce intensified orgone fields. Reich believed these could be highly beneficial for ameliorating psychic and physical conditions. The device installed in the library a ‘real’ Reichian Orgone Accumulator (it is built to the specifications of Reich).

Staff and students are welcome to come to the library and try the accumulator out for twenty minute slots (Reich advises against longer).

It should be noted that neither the Centre nor the University support Reich’s claims about the device and its construction is largely about a fresh design take on a historical oddity. It does, however, serve to raise certain epistemological questions that we sometimes think are already answered – placebo is not fully understood.