Artist-inspired hallucination machine hits Cardiff

dream machine

Artist Brion Gysin created the mind-bending Dreamachine in 1959

A hallucination-inducing artwork inspired by an invention of a friend of William Burroughs has arrived in Wales.

Artist Brion Gysin created the mind-bending Dreamachine in 1959 in the hope it would replace the television.

The idea was that users would not be passive consumers but create their own cinematic experiences.

Designed to be the first artwork to be enjoyed with closed eyes, a new Dreamachine is now in Cardiff.

Located at the city's Temple of Peace in Cathays Park from Thursday, it brings together Turner Prize-winning artists Assemble, Grammy and Mercury Prize-nominated composer Jon Hopkins and a team of technologists, scientists and philosophers.

Dreamachine programme director Jennifer Crook said: "The Dreamachine is an artwork you experience with your eyes closed.

"Essentially it's a flickering light. It's just white light but what this generates inside the mind is an extraordinary world of colours and patterns and shapes, all generated by your own brain."

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William Burroughs (left) was friends with Mr Gysin (centre) pictured here with poet John Giorno

Brion Gysin came up with his homemade device to create vivid illusions.

"It's a phenomenon known as stroboscopically induced visual hallucinations," said Dr David Schwartzman, a cognitive neuroscientist from the University of Sussex.

"These can be traced back to the 1950s with William Grey Walter, who was a famous neuroscientist, that first discovered that with eyes closed flickering lights can elicit these vivid patterns and colours.

"To be honest, we don't fully understand what's going on in the brain that elicits these experiences and I've been working for a number of years to explore more about what these experiences are."

Dreamachine programme director Jennifer Crook called the experience extraordinary

The show is part of Unboxed, a nationwide festival commissioned by former Prime Minister Theresa May following the UK's departure from the EU.

Unboxed commissioning director Hilary O'Shaughnessy said: "I was overwhelmed by how beautiful the experience is.

"I was completely blown away. I don't have the right words for what I experienced, but I've never experienced anything like that before but it stays with you for days."

While the experience is for over-18s, a schools programme has been developed alongside the live shows.

Pleasant or mindblowing? BBC Wales reporter David Grundy gives it a go

I was a bit sceptical about Dreamachine when I was told I was going, but I'm still thinking about it as I try to type this.

I was expecting a cross between a ride at Alton Towers and a show at the Planetarium.

Once you take off your shoes the guides lead to the Dreamachine to lie back in the seats and close your eyes before lights flash to music.

I saw lots of vivid colours with movement and shapes and, being colour blind, they were much more vivid than the dull colours I normally see.

I think I saw some Christmas trees and snowflake-shaped objects in a kaleidoscope of yellows, peach and orange colours in particular.

I found it quite a pleasant, calming experience, while some others who were inside came out having experienced something more profound.

One woman told me it had "blown" her mind.

I wouldn't go that far.

But I would like to experience it again. Perhaps with a slightly less sceptical view of it next time.

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