POPPEM: 2014

Decelerator helmet: viewing the world in slow motion | Technology | The Observer: Lorenz Potthast was a first-year arts student when he designed the Decelerator helmet – a hefty piece of headwear that allows the wearer to experience a slowed-down world. "I didn't just want to design another app to make grocery shopping easier," he says. "I wanted to do something experimental that could give a real experience."

The helmet is simply a shiny metal dome that records the view from a front camera and processes it through a small computer to a screen in front of the wearer's eyes. The slow-motion is controlled by a handheld remote. "The first three minutes are just confusing, but then you get a feel for it and you become the director of your own perception," he says. "It's alienating, because you're experiencing time at a different speed to your own surroundings so you can't really interact, but it's also somehow fascinating. People often don't want to take it off again."