Electric Dream Machine is a contemporary, digital update to Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville’s analog 1961 Dreamachine – a perforated cylinder that produces a strobe effect as it revolves on a turntable. The original work was inspired by new discoveries in neuroscience, and the belief that viewing these patterns of light generates neural oscillations that can heighten consciousness and creativity.
Electric Dream Machine explores ways the mind can be physically transformed by external stimuli, without altering its chemistry. It is designed to induce a meditative or hallucinatory state in the viewer’s brain through the use of alpha wave stimulating frequencies of sound and light. The work acts as a mirror in that the viewer experiences the same audiovisual frequencies as the woman in the video, potentially even syncing to her brain waves.
Curated by ACMI for Sydney Contemporary 2015, exhibited as a single channel video installation at House of Bricks Gallery (Melbourne) 2014, and large scale public single channel video for SPAN at City Library curated by the Food Court ARI (Melbourne).
Electric Dream Machine (2015)
4 minutes / looped
Single channel digital video, stereo binaural sound