Bryon Gysin with Dreamachine at Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, 1962. The first U.S. retrospective of Gysin's work is exhibited at the New Museum until October 3rd.

In the New Museum there are two exhibitions — Brion Gysin: Dream Machine and Amy Granat: Light 3 Ways.  Granat’s “Light 3 Ways” is a video projection showing different ways light can be perceived accompanied a sound piece.  The pieces look like black strands dancing on a white background.  However, trying to watch the projections, listen to the sounds, and read the description of the artist and piece in a narrow corridor where people are passing by makes it difficult to focus on the piece for a long length of time.

Gysin used dream-like effects.  The “Dream Machine” is a suitable title for the exhibition.  The machine is located in a small dark room with cushions around it.  It is a spinning metal cylinder from which light flickers out of from cut-outs in the side.  The “Dream Machine” is a suitable title because the machine also has elements of his other influences such as the village of Jajouka in Morocco, the idea of dreams especially as people have to close their eyes to experience it, and perhaps even the drugs that he use to relax.  All of his other works are just as thoughtful.  His poems, usually written on a scribble background, were written with this dream-like quality in mind but are sad at the same time.  Even some of Gysin’s scribbles are words written in a scribble like manner.  The Third Mind, which he worked with William S. Burroughs are cut-outs.  In one of them they use a bubble, cartoon, text, and newspaper clippings to show this war theme.

The exhibitions in the New Museum have art that tend to grow on a person the more a person looks and thinks about them.  While the museum as a whole was comprised of good artwork, if a person finds that they don’t like the museum on a whole they could definitely find at least one piece enjoyable.