dreamachine

What? The Use of a Dreamachine has been chosen, because it demonstrates how a non-evasive apparatus has been used in the past to alter internal physiological responses. This machine used in combination with technology is our way of exploring its initial purpose of altering brain states with our purpose of showing how it can create something new. In essence we will represent something created solely through involuntary responses that will be performed physically for the public to view. We will take an internal virtual experience and display it through the use of sound. When one is conscious (at a normal state) it is fathomable to critique her creation , however when something just is and belongs to an individual's sensory response it belongs to a different realm. This experience becomes a physiologically individualized and perhaps a one of a kind experience for the person. It alone is a work of art itself. With our future plans this will become an experience beyond only an altered state of mind. Consequently, the audience will know without question or further input that the experience is a type of representation different from any other. When others experience this 'internal' experience once it has become externalized it will allow a melody in which our ears interact with a creation someone else's brain involuntary assigned. This involuntary art, whether harmonious or not, will actually create something far beyond aesthetic;.

How? Working within the realm of science will help us understand the workings of the mind, and answer the questions that arise from exposure to the dreamachine: the actual mind/body responses in individuals. EEG technology will be initiated after the physical machine is built in order to chart these responses, while technologies that used for communications such as sound will create the outlet to communicate these complexities. The dream machine tries to reach and activate alpha brain wave patterns and record them on the EEG.

An EEG stands for electroencephelograph. An EEG captures and measures the brain's electrical activity. The brain cells communicate by producing electrical impulses. In the EEG, electrodes are placed on the scalp over multiple areas of the brain to detect and record the electrical impulses within the brain. The EEG is used to help diagnose the presence and type of seizure disorders, confusion, head injuries, brain tumors, infections, degenerative diseases, and metabolic disturbances that affect the brain. It is also used to evaluate sleep disorders and to investigate periods of unconciousness.

ALPHA waves range between 7-12 HZ. Alpha waves are oscillating electrical voltages in the brain. They oscillate in the range of 8-13 cycles per second. In Alpha we can access the realm of creativity that lies just beneath our conscious awareness, it is the entry point that leads into deeper states of consciousness. Because they happen in relaxed states such as meditation and under hypnosis, they mistakenly identified as desirable. Alpha waves also occur in unpleasant situations and when one is not necessarily relaxed. They are not an indicative of an altered state of consciousness. Instead, they are idicative of visual processing, the less visual processing generally the stronger the alpha waves. If you close your eyes and don't do any deep thinking or concentrate on vivid imagery, your alpha waves will usually be quite strong.

Why? Understanding consciousness has been a challenge for scientists and thinkers since the dawn of humanity, and at the time this machine was invented, it's maker was very sure this could be a drugless way of inducing higher states of consciousness. there are many ways to induce alterations in consciousness. Some include day dreaming, sleep, dreaming, hypnosis, meditation, hallucinations and Psychoactive drugs. The Dream machine can be able to perform analogous states of mind as the ones just mentioned.. The world wide web itself could be argued to also increase levels of consciousness in its ability to combine, motion, light, and a dislocation of space. Furthermore, today in a health conscious world drugs are associated by most with various evil stigmas. However, many drugs such as hallucinogens have produced many mind expanding avenues not freely accessible by the human mind.