MINDMATTER

An expedition into a subconscious reality

In this body of work, I present a mock-scientific examination of dreams as a unique reality. To begin, I explored the phenomenon by which  that those around us can perceive a version of ourselves that can be quite different to ours. This version is a personal creation of the clearly subjective recognition of those encountering us and so it doesn't belong to, or even truly exist, for us. Therefore, understanding the reality of someone else is basically impossible, as we don't even understand our own reality in the same way as others observe it.

Where is that feeling of isolation coming from, if we, as a race, are all the same, and is it possible to change it?

In the hope of finding possible clues, I was exploring one of the most obvious examples of this concept in more detail, investigating our experiences of dreaming and reality. To physically see someone sleeping for a limited time, and hear reports of the fantastical dreamscapes encountered, is the only avenue for an observer, but for the sleeper, another world, timeless and without boundaries, is opened up and seems very real.

I proposed for this project to question the distinction between “Dream” and “Reality”, as we experience it and are affected by our dreamscape in much the same way as we are by our waking lives. I wanted to create a journey into this subconscious state of existence, so I collected my dream stories and used them as the inspiration for this exhibition, to create three visual translations.

First, the outside view, represented as a part of the exhibition, adopts the standpoint of an onlooker observing the dreamer. The life-sized, photorealistic mono-imprints of people depict them in their preferred sleeping positions and outfits. I have used a unique printing technique that I developed with graphite and charcoal to do this. This very physical, analogue process creates a ghost-like, hyper-realistic picture of the body and gives an impression that the dreamer actually left some of his energy on the Canvas. This voyeuristic moment of looking at the imprint of the person creates an very intimate contention between the dreamer and the onlooker. The people appear spaceless, vulnerable, innocent, and alone in the darkness of the night. This conveys another mysterious world, where the dreamer has gone, but you cannot.

Second as a “scientific analysis,” I have created a graphical exploration of the nature of dreams, of the visual and physical impressions. These drawings, reveal my theoretical deliberation as to how one can capture and translate the confusion and structure of a dream into chaotic but organised diagrams.

Third is the inside view, represented in a collection of moments in the dream journey into the “Conscious World” through “dream souvenirs”; tangible objects to share with friends, proving the truth of this other actuality. Some of the objects are oddly whimsical, even bizarre. Some objects are interpretations of sequences of dreams, but some are objects which appeared directly in my dreams. To be functional, as they are in my dreams, I had to modify or redesign the sometimes already existing items because they have to follow the physical rules of this reality. These works are the materialised parts of an entirely isolated and personal experience of an otherwise invisible reality - my personal MINDMATTER.

I designed the exhibition so that it creates its own space; a surreal, eerie atmosphere, as you enter this other world.

By Bjoern Rainer - Adamson

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