Studio Dreamachine,
Hackney, London

The pre-booking form contains information about medical conditions or sensitivities that may be relevant to your participation in the High Sensory Dreamachine experience.

The High Sensory Dreamachine experience uses fast flashing bright lights, known as strobe lighting, and loud music. Significant periods of fast flashing bright lights and/or the combination of both fast flashing light and loud music may in rare cases cause adverse reactions, including seizures, if you have existing sensitivities that may be triggered by these effects.

Entry to the High Sensory Dreamachine experience is only permitted if you have completed the pre-booking form in advance of your visit. If you are in doubt about whether you should participate, consider booking for the Deep Listening experience.

If you have any technical issues completing the form, please contact: dreamachine@collectiveact.co.uk

Please note that we cannot provide any medical advice. If you have any questions around your personal circumstances or medical history, please consult your GP.

Studio Dreamachine is non-profit, and Collective Act, also non-profit, receives no income, subsidy, or public funding. During our 2022 tour, we were able to offer tickets to Dreamachine for free as part of the UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK programme.

We’ve kept the prices for Studio Dreamachine as low as we can to ensure as many people as possible can access the experience. Charging for tickets will help us to provide subsidised and free tickets to community groups and those on low income in the borough, and beyond. The price of tickets does not cover our full costs for running the experience.

We will be working with local Hackney residents, community groups and social care services to provide access to the experience to those who may benefit most: for social connection, creative practice, self reflection or relaxation.

We want Studio Dreamachine to be accessible to as many people as possible.

If you are on a low income, have additional needs or disabilities, or are over 60, you can book a Low Income ticket. Our Low Income tickets work on trust, so we won’t ask you to show us evidence of this.

Please only book a Low Income ticket if you cannot afford a full price General Admission ticket, as you will be taking the opportunity to visit away from somebody it may really benefit.

Companion tickets are for those with mobility issues, such as Wheelchair users, who require the assistance of a friend or helper in order to attend the experience. If you require assistance, please book a General Admission or Wheelchair ticket for yourself and a separate Companion ticket for the person accompanying you.

Tickets will be released in three waves for July, August and September. Tickets will go on sale for August in mid July, and tickets for September will be released in mid-August.

Sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know when tickets are released.

Last summer, many of our audience asked for the Dreamachine to be available permanently, as they found it offered multiple benefits to their mental health and wellbeing. Like a secular temple, the experience provided a rare space for shared reflection – a safe place for audiences to reconnect with themselves, and each other, in new and surprising ways.

Responding to this feedback, Studio Dreamachine has been created to trial an intimate version of the experience that is more accessible and easier to integrate into everyday life – as part of your lunch break, on your way to work, or as a social occasion with friends and family.

Our vision is to provide new ways to improve the wellbeing of all those who visit us. There is increasing social discussion around the lessons that meditation, non-ordinary states of consciousness and peak experiences can teach us. We have designed Studio Dreamachine to appeal to those who may not think such experiences are readily available to them, as a safe and accessible entry point to a much deeper set of philosophical questions.

Not for profit, we’ve kept the prices as low as we can to ensure as many people can attend as possible. We will be working with local Hackney residents and community groups to provide access to the experience for those who may benefit most.

Studio Dreamachine has been designed to feel like a campfire: it is more intimate than the full Dreamachine experience, hosting up to 12 people at a time. Just like the Dreamachine, the Studio integrates space for individual and shared reflection. It features the same light sequence and score, but is hosted in a smaller space, so it does not include full spatial sound. Some sessions use headphones – and you can choose which experience you would like to visit at the time of your booking.

You can find out where the full scale Dreamachine experience will be touring next by signing up to our mailing list.

For this pilot phase, we will be trialling the experience with both headphones and speakers. For both versions, the experience features the same light sequence and score, but as it is hosted in a smaller studio space, it does not include full spatial sound.

Shows before 6:30pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will use headphones, and all other shows will operate with speakers.

Dreamachine provides a rare opportunity for reflection, exchange and connection – a safe place for group members to reconnect with themselves, and each other, in new and surprising ways.

We’ve already worked with over 3,000 local residents and community groups to develop the experience over the last 2 years, with participants ranging from 18 to 93 years old – and there is still so much more we can do. During this pilot phase, our aim is to listen and to learn about how we can continue to deepen the social impact of Dreamachine.

We are therefore keen to support local resident and community groups to attend Dreamachine, especially individuals who may ordinarily experience multiple challenges to participation. If you are part of a local community or resident group, or if you work in social care or health and wellbeing and think the experience could benefit you or your group, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. We can organise closed group sessions, or support your individual members to book at a time that suits them.  

You can read more about our approach to access and inclusion.