Dreams Statement

Everyone Dreams: The Why and What of the Dreams and Conversations Project

The Why
Inspiration came in 2008, after an afternoon conversation with an older gentleman, a painter and teacher. In his Manhattan studio he spoke to me of a sometimes re-occurring dream. In it he came to find himself hovering in a room where the poet, William Blake, sat on a chair. The painter and the poet never really spoke, but the inspiration derived from the dream was apparent and to him it was quite real. This made me curious about the power and the purpose of dreams. Further explorations into Tibetan Buddhism’s Death Science as well as Jung’s concepts about the Collective Unconscious, made me believe that dreams were worthy of exploring right now, during a time of cultural transition and shifts. The project found its purpose as a type of artistic mapping.

The What
Image, video, sound: taking three elements and abstracting them out is what will be done to present this concept to viewers. Online and in gallery exhibits the Dreams and Conversation project will be based on the premise of remix. Time (portraits) is separated from place (video) and from experience (audio), so that a much larger sense of collective dreaming can be understood. The context of place and time are pushed to abstraction using multi-channel audio. First channel audio will string together the conversations line by line, dream by dream. The second channel will explore repetitive themes by stringing together words and phrases according to how often they repeat from person to person. A third audio track abstracts the voices to tones, to something that explores what many call the universal song.

The How
The series is done using film photography, along with digital video and sound. Combining the digital and the film is practical, allowing me to be mobile. It is also a function of commentary, working in both formats allows dialogue between analogue people living in an increasingly digitized society. Each conversation yields a portrait, audio record and a video record of the surrounding skies and environment. Each of these three elements stands separate and in relation to the others. This parsing allows for reproduction of the dream state in exhibition and it also mirrors concepts of consciousness and reality and how these are formed and reformed on a continuing basis. Traveling is an important part of this project. Speaking to a diverse sampling of people is also important.

The Point
Life is a state of consciousness, within it are manifest particulars of the individual. Universals also exist. Mapping the dreams of the people alive now is a way of exploring the particulars and the universals. As our society undergoes huge transitions in consciousness, technology and environment now is an excellent time to weave together these elements for exhibit, in the hope of generating even more conversations. In the subconscious sit the many fears and desires that do not often find voice in daily, waking life. Considering the extremism of our time, considering on one hand ideological repression found in developing nations and the increased pressures of a surveillance society in those already developed, dreams are a vast trove for understanding tensions that apply to us all.

The Exhibit(ing) Process
Dreams and Conversations will be an online as well as site specific project. Installations will include collected and found objects from each city or town where the conversations take place. Plastic toys, nuts and bolts, rocks and feathers, small to large objects will pepper the room. Online the video, portraits and audio will also be attached to these symbols, for example, a photo of a Long Horn cattle will most likely be a link to a voice from Austin, Texas since this is the symbol of their university mascot. Additionally applications for mobile technologies will allow for easy access, especially to audio. This audio will be available for remixes using Creative Commons licensing. As the project progresses so too, will avenues for sharing.