An exhibition under the influence

IF the title doesn’t grab you, the artworks probably will.

For his latest thought-provoking extravaganza, “Ecstasy: In and About Altered States,” Paul Schimmel, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, will fill the Geffen Contemporary with works by 30 artists who want to play with your head.

You’ll be under the influence of art, not drugs. But the works either represent “altered states” experienced by artists under the influence of psychedelic substances or set up phenomenological experiences that tweak perceptions and expand notions of reality.

Is that a wall or a void, you may ask as you wander into Massimo Bartolini’s all-white room, in which curved corners seem to dissolve boundaries. Is the stuff on that table moving or am I losing my mind, you may wonder as you stare at Charles Ray’s “Tabletop,” strewn with objects that rotate at an almost undetectably slow speed.

Olafur Eliasson’s strobe-lighted curtain of falling water appears to stop glimmering droplets in space. Chiho Aoshima’s digital animation turns skyscrapers into tall people with tubular, swaying bodies and incandescent eyes. Ann Veronica Janssens’ “Donut” fills one wall of a darkened room with big concentric circles of greenish-blue light. Krispy Kreme addicts may salivate, but the installation is meant to induce a hypnotic state.

Even Fred Tomaselli’s paintings, which hang on walls the old-fashioned way, can have a mesmerizing effect when you look closely and see that they are largely constructed of pills -- thousands of over-the-counter and prescription tablets -- embedded in resin.

The point of the show, Schimmel says, is to focus on art that creates a transcendent experience. And most of it was designed to work its magic in a social realm.

For those of you who like to fly solo and keep your weirdness to yourself, Sylvie Fleury has fashioned a glitzy private retreat: You just step into her golden sphere, close the door, kick back and immerse yourself in a sound and light show. But all the artists have made their work with an audience in mind.

“In a world where people are longing for shared experiences, artists have created these environments which allow them,” Schimmel says. “It’s why people go to raves, although I have yet to attend one.”

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Museum of Contemporary Art, Oct. 9-Feb. 20, www.moca.org.