From: Tony Conrad (email suppressed)
Date: Wed May 02 2007 - 09:58:26 PDT
Hi Adam-----
Thanks for your inquiry.
To the extent that "The Flicker" was an"experiment" or "research", it explored the potential
for perceiving harmonic interactions among the frequency components of complex flicker-
spectrum waveforms. The result was inconclusive, but suggested that any such effect is
marginal at best.
It would be interesting to see a fuller inquiry of this area, exploring the flicker spectrum
(from approx. 4-40 fps) as a potential field for compositional harmonic development
analogous to the musical frequency spectrum (from approx. 30-5000 Hz). However, there
are several reasons why film is ill-suited to this venture.
First, film projectors interrupt the projection of each frame to defeat flicker, so the highest
flicker frequency that can usually be achieved is only 12 fps (alternating black and clear
frames). I have overcome this limitation in two ways: (1) a modified projector can reveal the
24 fps frame rate that is the "tonic" frequency of "The Flicker". (2) In the 1980s I programmed
"The Flicker" on an Amiga computer, at 30 fps, but using alternating black and white fields
each 1/60 second, so that the "tonic" frequency was visible at 30 fps.
More serious is the problem that film frames are digital events, as are strobes. Hence any
frequency analogs with the audio spectrum must be made with pulses or square-wave
sounds. Such sounds, in which (for instance) some pulse trains that may appear to be quite
different are perceived identically, are very different from the sine tones that are the basis for
auditory perception (and whose interactions are the foundation for harmonic composition).
Finally, film quantizes time in frames, so that the "tonic" (or its closest homolog) is the
highest frequenncy element in the system, not the lowest (as in music). Also, this
quantization severely limits the possible simple frequency representations available. At 24
fps, the simple frequencies available are only 12 fps, 8 fps, 6 fps, and, at the margins of the
flicker spectrum, 5, 4, and 3.5 fps.
Since neither film, nor video, nor strobe lighting is flexible enough for the fullest exploitation
of flicker, and since the perceptual impact of sinusoidal flicker does not hold much promise, I
am not surprised that little further progress has been visible in this field of work.
However, I have to add here that the category of "artwork intended to directly stimulate the
brain, without conscious interpretation, using flickering light...as direct stimulation and not
an aesthetic technique," is a small part of works such as "The Flicker"--about which there are
far more interesting things to say. And work on what you call this "aesthetic technique,"
including also sociological, historical, conceptual, psychological, and political factors, has
very much continued, and has been extremely fruitful.
----t0ny
Quoting Adam Trowbridge <email suppressed>:
> Tony,
>
> I've been researching flicker, both your film The Flicker and
> Sommervile/Gysin's Dream Machine, as they relate to W. Grey Walter's
> The Living Brain and later developments. I've had difficulty finding
> anyone who "picked up the torch" from the 60s flicker experiments,
> specifically artwork intended to directly stimulate the brain,
> without conscious interpretation, using flickering light. In the
> science field, I found a book from 1977, Visually Evoked Potentials
> in Man, that goes deeper into possibilities but I haven't had any
> luck turning up continuation of art research into the subject. Today
> all that seems to remain are light/sound biofeedback devices.
> I'm writing to you, and the list, to see if you have, or anyone else
> has, any names or works to share that continue the research that came
> from the early flicker work. I think art work that takes neurological
> research into account is going to move into prominence, especially
> since we are on the cusp of readily available, EEG-based game control
> systems and toys*. I hope that the potential of flicker-based work,
> as direct stimulation and not an aesthetic technique, is realized
> further.
>
> Thanks for anything you can share.
>
> -adam
>
>
> * see
> http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/fun.games/04/30/mind.reading.toys.ap/
> index.html
> http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=551
> http://www.smartbraingames.com/
>
>
> Adam Trowbridge
> www.atrowbri.com
> email suppressed
>
>
> On Apr 27, 2007, at 3:32 PM, Tony Conrad wrote:
>
> Hi Lisa-------
>
> Dark frame: Put on lens cap
> Light frame: Shoot white paper out of focus, exposed +2 stops
>
> ----------t0ny
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Lisa Oppenheim <email suppressed>:
>
> > Dear Frameworkers-
> > I am just wondering what was the technique used for making
> > "Flicker" and other such B&W filcker films... Were black frames
> drawn
> > directly on clear leader?
> > Thanks!
> > Lisa Oppenheim
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________________________
> > For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.