"Initially I observed, in sweeping, panoramic vision, a perpetually metamorphosing Persian rug." A few minutes later, these patterns segued into "cinematic images from childhood—it was kind of like watching home movies."—David Woodard, interviewed by LA Weekly (July 26 - August 1, 1996)
"Flicker may prove to be a valid instrument of practical psychology: some people see and others do not. The Dreamachine with its patterns visible to the open eyes, induces people to see. The fluctuating elements of flickered design support the development of autonomous 'movies', intensely pleasurable and, possibly, instructive to the viewer."—Brion Gysin|Brion Gysin
The
dreamachine is a
stroboscopicStroboscopic may refer to:* Stroboscopic effect, visual temporal aliasing* Stroboscope, any of various stroboscopic devices* Strobe light, high-intensity and short-duration stroboscopic device...
flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist
Brion GysinBrion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs...
and
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
's "systems adviser"
Ian SommervilleIan Sommerville was an electronics technician and computer programmer. He is primarily known through his association with William S. Burroughs's circle of Beat Generation figures, and lived at Paris's so-called "Beat Hotel" by 1960, when they were regulars there, becoming Burroughs's lover and...
created the dreamachine after reading
William Grey WalterW. Grey Walter was a neurophysiologist and robotician.-Overview:Walter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1910. His ancestry was German/British on his father's side, and American/British on his mother's side. He was brought to England in 1915, and educated at Westminster School and afterwards...
's book,
The Living Brain.
History
In the dreamachine's original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder with slits cut in the sides. The cylinder is placed on a
record turntableThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
and rotated at 78 or 45
revolutions per minuteRevolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...
. A light bulb is suspended in the center of the cylinder and the rotation speed allows the light to come out from the holes at a constant frequency of between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to
alpha waveAlpha waves are neural oscillations in the frequency range of 8–12 Hz arising from synchronous and coherent electrical activity of thalamic pacemaker cells in humans...
s, electrical
oscillationOscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and AC power. The term vibration is sometimes used more narrowly to mean a mechanical oscillation but sometimes...
s normally present in the human brain while relaxing.
The Dreamachine is the subject of the
National Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
2008 feature documentary film
FLicKeRFLicKeR is a Canadian documentary film written and directed by Nik Sheehan, produced by Maureen Judge and Silva Basmajian . The film is based on the book "Chapel of Extreme Experience " by John Geiger about the work of artist Brion Gysin and his Dreamachine.Gysin's Dreamachine used a 100-watt light...
by
Nik SheehanNik Sheehan is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, who established an international reputation with No Sad Songs , the first major documentary on AIDS. The film cited by world renowned specialist Dr...
.
Use
A dreamachine is "viewed" with the eyes closed: the pulsating light stimulates the optical nerve and alters the brain's electrical oscillations. The user experiences increasingly bright, complex patterns of color behind their closed eyelids. The patterns become shapes and symbols, swirling around, until the user feels surrounded by colors. It is claimed that using a dreamachine allows one to enter a hypnagogic state. This experience may sometimes be quite intense, but to escape from it, one needs only to open one's eyes.
A dreamachine may be dangerous for people with
photosensitive epilepsyPhotosensitive epilepsy is a form of epilepsy in which seizures are triggered by visual stimuli that form patterns in time or space, such as flashing lights, bold, regular patterns, or regular moving patterns.-Symptoms:...
or other nervous disorders. It is thought that one out of 10,000 adults will experience a seizure while viewing the device; about twice as many children will have a similar ill effect.
External links