flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin
and William S. Burroughs
's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville
created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter
's book, The Living Brain.
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 turntable
and rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute
. 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.
"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