Beat Hôtel, Paris, 1962
Adhesive text, translucent wall/screen, video projection (color blinking at 10Hz), neon sign
2005

Taking its roots on the phenomenon of flicker and the researches leaded on this subject in the 60’ pursuant Brion Gysin’s quotation* (inserted in the installation with adhesive letters), the installation Beat Hôtel, Paris, 1962 invites to get in a cinematic and experiential space.
Projected on a translucent screen/wall, the digital simulation of the flicker effect (color blinking at 10Hz or frames per second) is directly linked to the color and the historical and cultural load (Beat Generation) of the Beat Hotel neon sign and the period it induces. The Beat Hotel being the place (in Paris) where Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville developped the Dreamachine (machine that you must look at with eyes closed reproducing the flicker effect by rotation of a cut out cylinder around a light source).

*«Had a transcendental storm of colour visions today in the bus going to Marseille. We ran through a long avenue of trees and I closed my eyes against the setting sun. An overwhelming flood of intensely bright colors exploded behind my eyelids: a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space. I was swept out of time. I was out in a world of infinite number. The vision stopped abruptly as we left the trees. Was that a vision? What happened to me?»
Extract from the diary of Brion Gysin - December 21, 1958
(adhesive text at the entrance of the room)