Re: Strobe and color

From: Tony Conrad (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Dec 22 2008 - 08:39:30 PST


Sandra's citations are canonical, taken along with the unusually informative wikipedia article referenced in an earlier note:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokemon_seizure

I suggest that anyone should consult these sources before cluttering Frameworks with further questions on this topic, since the discussion has wandered rather needlessly.

However, one aspect of flickering light that has not been touched upon is photogenic migraine, which is far more common than photogenic epilepsy. In fact, after the very first
public screening of my film The Flicker, one attendee developed a crushing headache that lasted about a week. This happens comparatively (though still rarely) often. The
condition seems to be otherwise benign, though far from enjoyable (unlike scintillating scotoma, from which I "suffer"). I have encountered several instances of photogenic
headaches over the course of time.

Is The Flicker then a menace? Though it is not without a tiny margin of danger (which it shares with films about sex and violence), The Flicker can also in the case of an "incident"
be understood positively, as an important diagnostic indicator, to be followed up by professional assessment.

-------t0ny

On Mon 12/22/08 6:00 AM , Sandra Naumann email suppressed sent:
> Yes, there is a certain frequency. As far as I remember it lies between 8
> and 10 pulses per second which matches the frequency of the alpha waves in
> the brain. But may you want to check out William Grey Walter's book
> "The Living Brain" (the fourth chapter is called Revelations by
> Flicker) first published in 1953 and John Geiger's "Chapel of Extreme
> Experience" which is related to the Dream Machine. I have heard of some cases where people actually have suffered from
> epileptic attacks atttending flicker performances which is why quite a lot
> of artist give advance information about the risks and even let people sign
> that they are aware of it and attending on own risk.
> Best,
> Sandra
>
>
>
> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
> > Datum: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:25:12
> -0800> Von: Myron Ort >> An: F
> email suppressed> Betreff: Re: Strobe and color
>
> > Interesting. It is so hard for me to keep up
> with the various > esoteric showings, I guess we are all in that
> same boat ....>
> > I wonder if I should put a seizure
> "warning" at the head of my > extended hand-painted films. ... probably not
> since there is > "content", in the sense that there is
> content in an AE painting vs. > a blank frame. Is there a particular frequency
> of flicker, I > wonder, which is seizure producing ? (Steve
> Polta did refer to this > phenomenon) If one showed any film at a slow
> enough speed would it > incur the danger of seizures in certain
> individuals? (I guess this > has happened) If a seizure producing film is
> digitized and shown on a > tv screen is it no longer seizure
> producing?>
> > On Dec 21, 2008, at 11:01 AM, Sandra Naumann
> wrote:>
> > > Hi Myron,
> > >
> > > Maurizio Martinucci aka TeZ was recently
> exploring colored > > flickering images in his piece PV868
> .> > Kurt Hentschlager, one part of the former
> duo Granular Synthesis, > > was working with artificial fog and partly
> colored stroboscobic > > light in his FEED performance causing
> colored and even spatial > > illusions.
> > >
> > > Sandra
> > >
> > > -------- Original-Nachricht
> --------> >> Datum: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:12:44
> -0800> >> Von: Myron Ort >> >> An: F
> email suppressed> >> Betreff: Re: Strobe
> > >
> > >> Is it only B/W flicker-type films that
> have been known to cause> >> seizures? What about any other types of
> experimental films?> >>
> > >>
> > >> On Dec 17, 2008, at 9:49 AM, Steve
> Polta wrote:> >>
> > >>> ARNULF RAINER can indeed trigger
> seizures. I've seen it happen.> >>>
> > >>> Steve Polta
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> I don't know if the
> flicker> >>>> frequencies of any of the films
> mentioned fall outside the> >>>> range that can induce this
> effect, but this can occur with> >>>> films as well.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> __________________________________________________________________> >>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip
> Chodorov at om>.> >>>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> __________________________________________________________________> >> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip
> Chodorov at om>.> >
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> > >
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> >
> >
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__________________________________________________________________
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