Kinetic Art: On Producing Illusions by Photic-Stimulation of Alpha Brain Waves with Flashing Lights

Leonardo,Vol. 5, pp. 147-149. PergamonPress 1972. Printed in GreatBritain KINETIC ART: ON PRODUCING STIMULATION OF ALPHA BRAIN WAVES WITH FLASHING LIGHTS ILLUSIONS BY PHOTIC= Robert Baldwin" INTRODUCTION An artist who wishes to make works of relevanceto the present-day world has the opportunity to apply new media developedby technologyand new results obtained by psychologistsof perception [1,21. One way to try to do this is to add to the traditional art object designed for passive contemplation the direct involvement of the viewer in controlling the object to obtain an aesthetic experience prepared by an artist. Viewer participation might involve several senses and psychological aspects of a human being. Electricity and electronic systems offer possibilities of attaining artistic experiences through viewer participation [2,3]. In Leonurdo,during the past four years, many artists have published discussions of the results they have obtained through the use of electric light in kinetic art. The work describedby artistsinReferences4-8 areparticularly related to my interests. APPLICATION OF PHOTIC-STIMULATION OF ALPHA BRAIN WAVES BY FLASHING LIGHTS The kinetic picture I shall describe was made in 1970and consists of a box 22 x 22 x 6 in, the front of which is covered with a Plexiglas plate that is divided into nine squares of 7 x 7 in, as shown in Fig. 1. The Plexiglas in five squares is of transparent blue and the other four are green. Behind each square is a xenon gas lamp and each is connectedto a potentiometerthat canvarythe flashrate of a.lamp from 1 to 25 flashes per second. Either ~ * Artist living at 2100 Silver Street, S.E.,Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, U.S.A. (Received 8 October 1971.) each lamp can be individually controlled by a viewer or the flashescan be madeto occurrandomly or in a predetermined order. I call the picture Fig. 1. View of flashing-light kinetic picture entitled 'Kinetic Light, No. l', flashing lights, 22 x 22 x 6 in., 1970. (Photo: M. Boschker, Albuquerque, N.M., U.S.A.) 147 I48 Robert Baldwin I a < ’ 46 R, 15O,OOO-Q, +-W R2 220,000-Q,+-W R3 240,OOO-Q,+-W R4 50-Q, 10-W C, 40-mF,450-V, electro Cz 10-mF,450-V, electro C3 0.22-mF,200-V,electro D1 IOOO-V, I-A, Zener D2 1OOO-V, I-A, Zener SCR silicon-controlledrectifier G.E.No. C106A2 L S potentiometer-switch,500K F 8-pin,xenon gas lamp Miscellaneous: 8-pin lamp sockets, wire, Vectorboard. kicker-chokecoil (CastleInc. No. 91846) Fig. 2. Circuit used in the flashing-light kinetic picture ‘Kinetic Light, No. 1’ incorporating viewer photicstimulation brain wave reactions to the flashes. ‘Kinetic Light’ and it is the first of a series of such pictures that I have designed utilizing the photicstimulation effect. The circuit for controlling the flashes, shown in Figure 2, works as follows: it is a fairly simple circuit to construct, consisting of a xenon gas lamp designedspecificallyfor use in strobing or modulated light circuits. On the base of the lamp, there are eight contact pins that I placed in a standard eightpin lamp socket, so that the various components were easily connected. The 115 a.c. voltage is converted to d.c. by two high-voltage Zener diodes and two medium voltage capacitors are used to store up the charge. To trigger the lamp, I used a silicon-controlled rectifier in conjunction with a kicker choke-coil, which was especially designed for strobe circuits by Castle Lighting Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif. To control the flash rate, I chose a combined potentiometer and switch. It enables the viewer to vary the flash rate or turn it on or off, with a single control. The individual flash-control units were connected for convenience sake in groups of three, using a common line plug. The amount of power needed to run all nine units at Fig. 3. Sample of Alpha brain wave EEG traces made in June 1910 under conditions of photic stimulation in a subject. Note correlation of Alpha wave peaks with the rate of light flashes per second (F.P.S.). once is low and excessive amounts of current from a single 115 V line will not be drawn. A note of caution : after approximately 15to 20 min of steady use, the units should be switched off to cool for a few minutes. Due to high resistances in the units, some components (5042,10-Wresistor and 40-mF, 450-Vcapacitor) get quite hot and, if left on for several hours, probably would damage the units or some of the components. Although there are many different circuits that have been designed for flashing light type units, I have found this particular circuit to be the lowest priced (about $15.00) and the simplest to construct. The reaction of the brain to stimulation from light flashes is called photic-stimulation. It has been found that when measurements are made by means of an electroencephalograph (EEG) recorder of the Alpha waves emitted by the brain (Fig. 3), there is a frequency of the waves that will correspond to the flash rate of a flashing light and the rate at which the correlation occurs varies from person to person in the range from 1 to 25 flashes per second [9, 101. Individuals suffering from epilepsy are greatly affectedby aflicker-flash test, asmade evident by the character of the Alpha waves they emit. It has also been found that the character of the Alpha waves can be affected by the psychological state of the subject, such as a form of relaxation throughout the body resembling what athletes call a state of ‘muscletone’. This phenomenon has been applied by D. Rosenbloom [2] by means of what Kinetic Art: On Producing Illusions by Photic-stimulation 149 he calls a biofeedback performance system, with which a subject can cause a sound to be maintained by a tone generator or a light to stay on when he controls and sustains a particular pattern of the Alpha waves. I do not provide a monitoring EEG recorder that would permit the viewer to see when his Alpha wavesarecorrelatedto the rate of oneor more of the flashing lights. However, as the viewer varies the rate of each of the nine flashinglights, there occurs a rate of at least one of the lights at which the viewer experiences color changes in the flashinglights of the picture or in nearby objects and he may havetheillusionthat objectsarevibrating. Thosewho haveobtainedapleasurableexperience from controlling the picture until they notice the production of the illusionary effects find that they wish to repeat the experience. I havetried only blue and green colors and, therefore, I cannot report if the choice of colors has any special significance. I have watched my ‘KineticLight’picture for many hours without distressingemotional effects. Anyone planning to carry out experiments with the photic-stimulation effect should note that one of the tests used by means of EEG recordings to find potential epileptics is called flicker-flash test, [9]. The flash rates used in this test are within the range of the rates used in the picture. Since the average flash rate at which a person’s Alpha-wave rhythm is affected is eight to twelve flashes per second, at the first feeling of any discomfort, the flash rate should immediately be changed or the circuit shut off. Some 2000 people have viewed my kinetic picture and about ten have reported what I call ‘strobe sickness’. At certain flash rates, they reported that they felt very dizzy and nauseous but as soon as the lights were turned off they recovered . Furthermore, staring into high intensity lampsfor anylength oftimecan causedamageto the delicate cells in the eye or to the optic nerve itself. I suggest great caution be used by those experimenting or utilizing this effect in art. Epileptics or potential epileptics could be driven to the point of having a seizureby the flashinglights. Since an artist is not content to only repeat experiments carried out by psychologists of perception or to simply demonstrate a flashing-light system,I hope to find a way to makeanother picture of this type that will contain aesthetic qualities of my choice. Perhaps I may be able to introduce content or messages of different kind that I feel should be communicated to the viewer when he is in the special state of seeing illusions produced by photic-stimulationof Alpha brain waves. I wish to thank the psychiatrist, Carlo P. DeAntonio , of Los Angeles, California,for my useful discussions with him on photic-stimulationand the EEG Laboratory of Van Nuys, California, for supplying me with much practical information and material on Alpha waves and photic-stimulation. REFERENCES 1. N. Calder, The Mind of Man (London: British BroadcastingCorp.,1970). 2. D. Rosenbloom,Method for ProducingSoundsor Light Flashes with Alpha Brain Waves for Artistic Purposes,Leonardo5,141 (1972). 3. R. Doty, Introduction to Exhibition Catalog, Light: Object and Image, bibliography by N. L. Hart (New York: Whitney Museum of Modern Art, 1969). 4. F. J. Malina, Kinetic Painting: The Lumidyne System,Leonardo 1,25 (1968). 5. B. F. Laposky, Oscillons:ElectronicAbstractions, Leonardo2,345 (1969). 6. T. Vincent, My sculptures of Combined Opaque andIlluminatedForms,Leonardo 2,417 (1969). 7. J. Hill, My PlexiglasandLight Sculptures,Leonardo 3,9 (1970). 8. D. Smith,KineticArt: The ShiftRegister,a Circuit for SequentialSwitching of Lights, Leonardo 5, 59 (1972). 9. D. Regan,SomeCharacteristicsof Average SteadyStateand Transient Responses Evoked by Modulating Light, Electro-Encephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology20, 238 (1969). 10. M. R. Harter and C. T. White, Evoked Cortical Responses to Checkerboard Patterns: Effect of Check-Size as a Function of Visual Activity, Electro-Encephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 28, 159 (1970). ...