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| For the first time, out of a kaliedoscopic cyclone, a blizzard of revolutionary scientific information and ultra-visionary creation, John Geiger has cut-up and exposed the last remaining and most significant creative and conceptual exploration of consciousness. —Genesis P-Orridge |
| It's unlikely you'll find a more fascinating book. The convergence of science and art, of great minds and visionaries, over a hallucinatory device is one of the fantastic untold stories of our century. Geiger's slim but potent book is a sizable contribution to the annals of science and pop culture. —Calgary Herald |
| Excellent … engrossing … Geiger’s readable, authoritative, beautifully designed pocket history does us all a great favour by reminding readers of what is wondrous in life. —Quill & Quire | |
Chapel of Extreme Experience: A Short History of Flicker
John Geiger
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| Paper | 5" x 8" | 120 pgs. | ISBN: 1-932360-01-8 | List: $11.95 | 02/1/2004 |
Available on Powells.com, Amazon.com, from your local BookSense store, and bookstores everywhere!
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About the book: John Geiger traces the history of how a visual phenomenon first described two hundred years ago by physiologist Jan Purkinje has become the basis of further scientific studies into how the visual brain works, and how its repercussions have spread widely into contemporary artistic and musical culture.
The study of stroboscopic light began as a purely scientific study. Geiger’s history begins at this point and goes on to study the transition to the art world that was pioneered by Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge and Allen Ginsberg. While the book is an examination of the intersection between art and science, it is also a study of major currents in Western culture by way of an investigation of an obscure phenomenon.
Not only was flicker central to the artistic explorations of the afore-mentioned by Geiger also finds intersections with the lives (and deaths) of people as various as Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, Keith Haring, Ned Rorem, Paul McCartney, Derek Jarman, Paul Bowles, David Bowie.
About the author: John Grigsby Geiger was born in Ithaca, New York, and grew up in Canada. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Alberta. His work has been translated into seven languages. Since 1998, he has been an editor for National Post. He is the co-author of two other books, Frozen in Time and Dead Silence. |
