AKA Brian John Gysin

Born: 19-Jan-1916
Birthplace: Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England
Died: 13-Jul-1986
Location of death: Paris, France
Cause of death: Cancer - unspecified
Remains: Cremated, ashes scattered, Caves of Hercules, near Eregli, Zonguldak, Turkey

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Gay
Occupation: Artist

Executive summary: Inventor of the Dreamachine

Grew up in New York City, Kansas City, MO, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. While a student at the Sorbonne, fell in with the Surrealists and in 1935, at the age of 19, had his work shown at the Surrealist Drawings exhibit in Paris. Developed the cut-up technique, which would find its greatest exponent in William S. Burroughs -- they first met in 1953 but did not collaborate until 1958. With mathematician Ian Sommerville, constructed the Dreamachine, a cylindrical strobing device which induces lucid dreaming.

Proponent of Moroccan group The Master Musicians of Jajouka. During the 1950s, Gysin operated the 1001 Nights club in Tangier as a venue for the group.

Father: (d. 1916)
Boyfriend: John Giorno (poet)

    High School: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    University: Downside College, Bath, England (1932-34)
    University: Sorbonne

    Fulbright 1946
    Swiss Ancestry Paternal
    English Ancestry Paternal
    Canadian Ancestry Maternal
    Risk Factors: Psilocybin

Is the subject of books:
William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle, 1982, BY: V. Vale and Andrea Juno (RE/Search)

Author of books:
To Master a Long Goodnight (1946, history)
The History of Slavery in Canada (1946, history)
The Process (1969)
Here To Go: Planet R-101 (1982, with Terry Wilson)
The Last Museum (1986)

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