Dreamachine

A dreamachine or dream machine is a kind of lamp that a flickering strobe effect (English " flicker " ) produced for optical stimulation. The apparatus was designed in the late 1950s by the beatnik artist Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. The idea is based on a visual phenomenon and reading the book The Living Brain of neurophysiologists and robotics researcher William Grey Walter. 1961 dreamachine was patented as a " method and apparatus for generating artistic sensations ".

In its original form, the dreamachine of a cylinder which is provided at the side with slots. This is placed on a turntable and placed at 45 or 78 revolutions per minute to rotate. In the cylinder there is a bulb as a light source. A dreamachine is " considered " usually with closed eyes, as the pulsating light stimulates the optic nerve through the closed lids and the action potential of the nerve to promote the production of alpha waves (8-12 Hz ) in the brain (see Mind Machine ). The reflections can thereby be associated to swirling patterns, shadows or symbols and ultimately lead to a semi - hypnotic state or a trance. The apparatus may have a certain mind-expanding effect under the additional consumption of stimulants such as psychotropic substances. Under the influence of opiates the lights carousel will seemingly come to a halt. In some people, the dreamachine produces no sensations; in individuals with a predisposition to photosensitive epilepsy can turn even trigger a seizure.

History

Brion Gysin in 1958 during a bus trip to Marseille a kind of hallucination, which was caused by the lights of the setting sun on an avenue with trees. He wrote about the experience in his diary:

"Had a transcendental storm of color 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 colors exploded behind my eyelids: a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space. I was swept out of time. I was out in a world of infinite number. The vision stopped abruptly as we left the trees. Was that a vision? What happened to me? "

" Had today on the bus to Marseille a transcendental storm of colored visions. We drove through a long avenue of trees, and I had closed my eyes against the light of the setting sun. An overwhelming flood of intensely bright colors exploded behind my eyelids: a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling through space. I was the time raptured. I was in a world of infinite size. The vision ended abruptly as we left the trees. Was that a vision? What happened to me? "

Some time later Gysin found in William Grey Walter's book The Living Brain an explanation for the " flicker " phenomenon, in which the light in a split second irritated visual perception. In Cambridge Gysin told his friend and mathematics students Ian Sommerville thereof, who also knew the book. Sommerville made ​​his scientific mind to repeat the phenomenon. In a letter to Gysin in February 1959, he announced that he had built a simple " Flicker - machine" which consists of a cardboard cylinder that rotates on a turntable at 78 revolutions per minute around a light source. Ian Sommerville wrote:

" You look at it with eyes shut and the flicker plays over your eyelids. Visions start with a kaleidoscope of colors on a plane in front of the eyes and Gradually become more complex and beautiful [ ... ] after a while the visions were permanently behind my eyes and I was in the middle of the whole scene [ ... ] Afterwards I found did my perception of the world around me had Increased notably. "

" You look with your eyes closed it, and the flicker plays over your eyelids. Visions start with a kaleidoscope of colors on a surface in front of your eyes, and gradually everything is complex and beautiful [ ... ] after a while the visions are constantly behind my eyes, and I am in the midst of the whole scene [ ... ] Afterwards, I found that has my perception of the world increased significantly around me. "

In the aftermath Brion Gysin refined the invention. He provided the cylinder with different patterns, even added a second, inner cylinder and tried the effect of different rotation speeds. On November 18, 1961, Gysin let the dreamachine as "procedure and apparatus for the production of artistic sensations" ( "Method and apparatus for generating artistic sensations " ) patented (PV 868 281 ).

Aftermath

The invention was quickly aftermath in literature, music and pop culture. For example, let William S. Burroughs, a friend of Gysin and Sommerville and also a resident of the legendary Beat Hotel in Paris, inspired by the apparatus when writing in the developed by Gysin cut-up technique. In the U.S., the filmmaker Jonas Mekas became aware of the dreamachine and in February 1964 published an article in the Village Voice about it. The principle of the stimulating light projection quickly found use in underground filmmakers and organizers of the emerging light shows and multimedia events. For example, in the seminar organized by Andy Warhol Exploding Plastic Inevitable, or in the black and white " Flicker " movie of the experimental filmmaker Tony Conrad. Conrad had the cut of the film over 18 months at a - fiddled "optimal" sequence of light pulses - in his opinion. More subculture artists of the 1960s, which were associated the Beat Generation and the " Flickermachine " propagated, were the filmmaker Piero Heliczer or former Velvet Underground drummer Angus MacLise. In the 1980s, the musician and performance artist Genesis P -Orridge resorted to Gysin's ideas and its dreamachine. The English concept art - music project Hafler Trio played in 1989 along with Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (see Psychic TV) a soundtrack to dreamachine a sales and also replicas of the device with booklet.

Modern variants

In particular in the sectors of esotericism are devices as lamps relaxation and hypnosis glasses, but also as supportive and brain stimulating learning aid for the controversial " learn while you sleep " offered that want to make the discovered effect is used by Gysin. On the Internet, computer-aided Dream Machines in the form of freeware and browser display animations to find.