About - Dreamachine (original) (raw)
Dreamachine is inspired by an extraordinary but little-known 1959 invention by artist–inventor Brion Gysin.
His experimental homemade device used flickering light to create vivid illusions, kaleidoscopic patterns and explosions of colour in the mind of the viewer.
Designed to be the ‘first artwork to be experienced with your eyes closed’, Gysin had a pioneering vision for his invention to replace the television in every home in America. Instead of passive consumers of mass-produced media, viewers of his Dreamachine would create their own cinematic experiences.
Gysin died before his vision could be realised, but his idea to use technology to reconnect us with our inner lives remains just as radical, and relevant, today.
A new Dreamachine for the 21st Century
Over sixty years after its original invention, Dreamachine has been radically reimagined as a powerful new kind of collective experience.
Like a contemporary campfire, the experience is held in the round, within a monolithic timber structure designed by Assemble. The kaleidoscopic world created by the Dreamachine comes from within, and as you take a seat within the circle and close your eyes, flickering white light and 360-degree spatial sound weave seamlessly together to generate a luminous and technicolour internal world – all created by the power of your own brain and completely unique to you.
For total sensory immersion, our Deep Listening experience is a spatial-audio only version, designed to be enjoyed in the dark.
The Impact of Dreamachine
Dreamachine is engaging millions of people around the world in a major interdisciplinary programme, fusing world class artists with industry leading, scientific researchers. A multi award-winning success, our multi-year research programme is now generating major new studies on the nature of perception, and Dreamachine will soon be touring internationally.
Read more about the story and the impact of our programme here.
Discover the Dreamachine Programme
Immersive Experience
Conjured entirely by light and music, the colourful world of the Dreamachine will unfold behind your closed eyes – created by your own brain and completely unique to you.
Learning Programme
Children and young people across the UK are invited to explore the wonder of how they see and understand the world around them with our range of interactive resources.
Pioneering Research
Ground-breaking academic inquiry investigating the unique ways we experience the world around us and transforming our understanding of the human mind.
Dreamachine is created by Collective Act, award-winning producers of powerful large-scale participatory commissions.
We create emotionally engaged, meaningful shared experiences that bring people together and transform the way we look at the world. We champion a collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach to producing new work, creating space for taking risks and the unexpected to bring ambitious ideas to life. We have a people focussed approach: our audiences and the artists that we work with are at the heart of all that we do.
Dreamachine Collaborators
Jennifer Crook
Artistic Director and CEO
Jennifer conceived the idea for Dreamachine and leads the vision, direction and management of the programme. She has previously led critically acclaimed public projects for festivals and arts organisations around the world, creating ambitious and award-winning interdisciplinary commissions with artists including Olafur Eliasson, Danny Boyle, Christo and Jeremy Deller.
Assemble
Spatial Design
Assemble is a Turner Prize winning interdisciplinary collective, working across architecture, design, and art. With a hands-on approach and focus on making, their diverse work transcends traditional boundaries between architectural, social, and artistic practice, both making things and making things happen.
Jon Hopkins
Composer
Jon Hopkins is an award winning electronic artist, producer and composer whose solo and collaborative works, including deeply cerebral ambient techno recordings and immersive film scores, have received widespread acclaim as well as Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations.
Professor Fiona Macpherson
Philosopher
Fiona Macpherson FRSE, MAE, is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience (CSPE). Her research concerns the philosophical nature of consciousness, perception, illusion, hallucination and imagination.
Dr David Schwartzman
Scientist
Dr David Schwartzman is a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a cognitive neuroscientist, whose research investigates the neural basis of altered states of consciousness.
Professor Anil Seth
Scientist
Professor Anil Seth is a world-leading neuroscientist and public science communicator. He is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and the author of Being You – A New Science of Consciousness – an instant Sunday Times Bestseller and Guardian Book of the Week.
Dev Joshi
Technologist
Dev Joshi is an award-winning designer and technologist working across design, engineering, innovation and the arts. He was the technologist behind the Barbican’s sell-out Rain Room exhibition in 2012.
Holition
Creative Technology Studio
Holition is an award-winning digital innovation studio working as a synthesis of scientists, film-makers, artists, mathematicians, UX designers, technologists and other curious minds.
Christopher Shutt
Sound Design
Christopher Shutt is a multi-award-winning freelance Sound Designer. Formerly Head of Sound at the Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Court, and the National Theatre, he is internationally renowned for creating worlds through sound that transport audiences.
Dreamachine Education Partners
A New Direction
Education Partner
A New Direction is an award-winning non-profit organisation working to enhance the capacity and agency of children and young people in London to own their creativity, shape culture, and achieve their creative potential.
Unicef
Education Partner
The United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) is a charity that raises funds for UNICEF’s emergency and development work around the world and advocates for lasting change for children worldwide.
British Science Association
Education Partner
The British Science Association develops science engagement programmes for audiences underrepresented in, and underserved by, science.
"I felt like I was taking a deep dive into a beautiful part of my mind. It is comforting to know it is there."
Audience participant in the Dreamachine, Cardiff
Awards for Dreamachine
Winner - 2024
Excellence in Impact – World Experience Awards
Winner - 2023
Breakthrough Award
Winner - 2023
Immersive Environment Award
Winner - 2023
Best Innovation in Creative Arts
Honorary Mention - 2024
EU Prize for Citizen Science
Honourable Mention
Creative Effectiveness Award
Winner - 3rd Place - 2023
Immersive Experience
Winner - 2022
Live Experience
Winner - 2022
Exhibition Experience
Finalist - 2024
Architecture + Joy
Shortlisted - 2023
Exhibition Design
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