Dreamachine

"Had a transcendental storm of colour visions today in the bus going to Marseilles. We ran through a long avenue of trees and I closed my eyes against the setting sun. An overwhelming flood of intensely bright patterns in supernatural colours exploded behind my eyelids: a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space. I was swept out of time. I was in a world of infinite number. The vision stopped abruptly as we left the trees." [1] (Gysin, 1958)

Inspired by the light effects he had experienced in France, Brion Gysin developed the »Dreamachine« together with mathematician Ian Sommerville. The work is a light device that uses the stroboscopic effect to stimulate the optic nerve and thus the brain. The »Dreamachine« is easy to build. It consists of a cylinder with vertical slits cut in the sides and a light bulb suspended inside it. The device stands on the turntable of a record player set to 78 rpm.

Visitors view the »Dreamachine« with their eyes closed: the pulsating light at a constant frequency of between 8 and 13 pulses per second stimulates the optic nerve; the frequency range corresponds to alpha waves, electrical oscillations of the human brain. The flicker of the light reflections perceived turns them into colors, patterns symbols, or three-dimensional landscapes. For Gysin it was this altered state of consciousness that was the main focus of the work. Although he was frequently perceived as an outsider of the art scene, Gysin was in fact active in Parisian Surrealist circles and also a member of the American Beat Generation from the 1950s until the mid 1960s. And Gysin continues to influence generations of young artists to this day.



[1] Brion Gysin, diary entry, 21 December 1958, in: Brion Gysin and Terry Wilson, »Brion Gysin: Here to Go« (London: Solar Books, 2012), 141.