One of Belfast’s oldest former churches has been transformed into a powerful new immersive art experience for the next six weeks.
Carlisle Memorial Church became the latest UK venue to host Dreamachine. Here, audiences can lie down and watch as a performance with sound and white light.
Participants described the experience as both individual and collective. They each saw something unique and were then given the opportunity to share it with one another through words and drawings.
Dreamachine will be in Belfast from September 4 to September 4, (Liam McBurney/PA).PA Wire/PA Pictures – Liam McBurney
Some people report seeing a kaleidoscope hidden behind closed eyes. Others describe a rainbow of colours, shapes and scenes that remind them of a sepia movie.
The experience, which is free of charge, follows sold-out shows at Cardiff and London. It runs in Belfast from July 25, to September 4, 2008.
Collective Act was responsible for creating it. It gathered together Assemble, Grammy, Mercury-nominated composer Jon Hopkins as well as a team consisting of technologists and scientists.
Dreamachine was presented as part UNBOXED UK: Creativity.
Jennifer Crook is the director of Collective Act. She said that it was impossible to describe the experience.
“The Dreamachine is an artwork you experience with your eyes closed but it’s completely different for everyone that comes through because the experience is generated by your brain, it’s different even each time you come,”She spoke.
“It’s like a light show, but inside your mind. You might see colours, patterns and shapes. Some people see lots of kaleidoscopes, other people see real-world scenes, almost dream-like scenes but you won’t know until you see for yourself.”
Participants of Dreamachine in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA).PA Wire/PA Pictures – Liam McBurney
It was inspired by an invention of artist-inventor Brion Gysin in 1959.
“The original dreamachine was a very rudimentary device, a patterned cylinder that you’d put on a record player, hang a lightbulb inside and it would spin around and flicker. This is realising it on a much bigger scale but also as a collective experience,”Ms. Crook stated.
“What we have seen from touring over the UK this summer is some really incredibly rich profound experiences that range from joy, sometimes sadness. It depends what the person brings in with them.
“One of the most beautiful parts of the project is the drawing table, this is the space where you’re invited to reflect on your experience, and draw it or write about it or even just discuss it with others around the table.
“You never know what people are going to say, you never know what they saw and it’s an endlessly fascinating conversation to listen and learn how individual people’s experiences are.”
Ms Crook stated that they ultimately would like to travel the experience all over the globe and observe how it is received by different cultures.
It’s the chance to experience something truly new. That’s what makes it so special.
Sam Hunt, UNBOXED: Creativity and the UK programme director
Sam Hunt is the programme director of UNBOXED UK: Creativity. “collective experience that you have on your own”.
“It’s something you are sharing with people in the space but it’s absolutely completely unique to you,”He stated.
“UNBOXED is 10 very large-scale commissions happening across the UK this year, but a lot of them are predicated on the idea of a collective experience of thousands of people gathered together or witnessing something.
“But this is totally unique, and what is very special about it is the opportunity to experience something genuinely new, and I think that’s been achieved.”