Workshop und theoretical discours | On the Reality of Dreaming and the Nightmare of Reality
SA 28 and SO 29 09 2013 | Hotel Altes Kloster | Fabriksplatz 1a / Hainburg a.D.
Artists Ryoko Akama (GB/JP), Brigitta Bödenauer (A), Sylvia Eckermann (A), Jogi Hofmüller (A), Volkmar Klien (A), Slavo Krekovic (SK), Elisabeth Schimana (A), Susanne Schuda (A), Christian Stefaner-Schmid (A), Evgeniy (Zhenya) Vashenko (UA), Alla Zagajkevich (UA)
Theorists Katharina Gsöllpointner(A), Brigitte Holzinger (A), Friedrich Tietjen (DE), Jozef Cseres (SK)
Workshop Lucid Dreaming | conducted by Dr. Brigitte Holzinger | SA 28 09 2013 11:00 bis 21:00
Theory Brunch | with all present artists and theorists | SO 29 09 2013 11:00 bis 15:00
By dreaming we transcend space and time, fragmentarily fly from one situation to the next, and hover in a state of weightlessness. Supposedly unrelated elements converge and seem uncontrollable and lacking linearity.
No longer do we experience this state only in the dream phases of sleep, for in our media-saturated world the act of dreaming has long since become mundane. In the millennium of dreaming we exist in the permanent reality of the flood of dream images that come from the Web, among other sources, and flicker across our monitors. We click from one site to the next, move effortlessly through time, open endlessly interlinked doors, surf through infinite channels, and cast off our bodies.
At the same time we are experiencing a radicalization of physical realities, which express themselves as the collapse of economic systems, natural catastrophes, unemployment, and the struggle to earn one’s daily bread and have become a nightmare.
Is this something to strive for? An intermediate state, a trance state like that experienced in lucid dreaming, one in which the dreamer is aware of his/her state and is able to intervene?
Intimately and in dialog with others, artists and theorists reflect in workshop and theory brunch upon the millennium of dreaming in. This discours is the initialization for the artists work, comissioned by IMA Institute of Media Archeology, for the next year festival Intimate Spaces 2014. The works will be performed in 10 rooms of the hotel “Altes Kloster”.
Lucid Dreaming Lucid dreams are distinguished from regular dreams by the dreamer’s self-imposed awareness of the dream status. With this conscious realization comes the ability for a free transformation and the capability of decision making within the dream itself. During a lucid dream the abilities to recognize, to reflect, to orientate as well as to recollect the waking state are completely intact. The range of possible experiences in lucid dreams extends from perceptions and sensations similar to real-life experiences to fantastic creations, ideas and visions, which can change your life.
Workshop | The workshop consists of two parts – one part, devoted to the dreams. The other part, devoted to the lucid dreams.
Part 1 | Dream after a theoretical introduction, how to get close to your dreams and why we should or could do so, we learn in a series of exercises – based on Gestalt therapy – to experience, how to get closer to that, what a dream might mean.
Part 2 | Lucid dreams or so called conscious dreaming are one of the most upbeat conditions, which we know: to recognize the condition while dreaming opens up for the one`s unexpected opportunities to enjoy boundless the pictures and advendures in one`s head. And yet for the others, there will be the opportunity to influence one`s live script. For others there will be open up worlds of phantasie and creativity, magic, spirituality.
At the workshop we will discuss theoretical settings of the lucid dreaming, including an excercise to practise the lucid dreaming.
In connection with dream works (Gestalt) we get wise to our dreams – to get new ideas, understand ourself better to unlock degrees of freedom.
Theory-Brunch
Katharina Gsöllpointner | Lucy in the Sky (with Diamonds)
Neurosciences can give us a clue about what happens when we are dreaming. Neurological research shows us that the brain is still working while we are sleeping. Synapses are still firing and — depending on what we have experienced during daytime resp. which memories we have ‘stored’ in our brain and body — this can lead to most vivid sensory impressions which we call dreams. They can be experienced as terrible nightmares but also as the most beautiful and happiest experiences we ever had. Reason doesn’t seem to play a role any more.
Research about synesthetic experiences shows us furthermore, that a variety of different brain areas seem to co-produce cross-modal sensory impressions which cause graphem-color, sound-color, word-taste or various other synesthesias in individuals.
The same can be observed under the influence of certain drugs or psychotic disorders as well as when interacting with art. All these experiences have basically to do with our brain activities which we hardly can control.
However, art can simulate and/or reproduce intermediate mental states and transitional phases as well as dreams, illusions, halluzinations and synesthetic experiences in a way, that we even can control them sometimes. The talk will highlight some cultural, personal and artistic phenomenons regarding the topic of lucid dreaming as well as introduce selected (digital) art works.
Friedrich Tietjen | Dream Economies, or: In Your Dreams!
Some decades ago a new kind of dreams did emerge. Since then, advertisements of all kinds suggest that there is a world populated by dream women and dream men, having dream jobs, living in dream houses or dream flats and riding dream cars while being on dream trips. And it is easy to go there – all we need to do is a purchase of whatever small or big item to either become a dream (woman or man) or live in it. These dreams share certain properties with the nightly experiences – they both use strong images, they rarely follow rational logics, and they never become true. Their difference however is fundamental: These dreams of a commodified utopia are dreamt for us, or rather: Someone is dreaming those dreams for us. How does that work? How are these dreams connected to what we dream ourselves? And how are these dreams on the other hand connected to other dream worlds such as those of cinema, TV and gaming?