Research
In the past, creative individuals have long analyzed creative processes and advocated for new and innovative ways to work. Dreaming, as a theme has been prevalent and the center of many exhibitions and works. Filmmaker David Lynch is often at the center of these discussions. Not only do his films such as Lost Highway (1997), Mullholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006) reflect American dreams and nightmare visions, but he is also the founder for the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace which centers around transcendental meditation. His book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity (2007) is an autobiography and self-help guide where he writes about his filmmaking and creative work and the effects of meditation and his exploration into states of consciousness.
Ingmar Bergman and Carlos Saura directly transformed their dreams into film sequences. Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957) starts with a dream sequence and The Seventh Seal (1957) reflects his difficulty with separating reality and fantasy. Saura's Cria Cuervos (1976) follows a girl as she wanders me gets lost in dreams, fantasies and memories in montage. Filmmaker Federico Fellini discovered the work of Carl Jung after meeting Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Ernst Bernhard in the early 1960s. After reading a number of books of Jungian psychology, Fellini started to perceive his dreams as psychic manifestations of the unconscious, which then directly influenced his films such as 81/2 (1963) and City of Women (1980). The film industry has always shown and interest in dreams, from inspired narratives (City of Lost Children 1995 dir. Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet) to more abstract explorations (Eyes Wide Shut 1999 dir. Stanley Kubrick) to literal representations (What Dreams May Come 1998 dir. Vincent Ward).
Contemporary German-American artist Hans Haacke creates art that questions traditional mechanisms and functions to then communicate ideological values and reveal other underlying intentions. What is interesting about Haacke's work is the way he uses objects and symbols that have meaning and purpose in the everyday world but re-constructs them to then transmit a contemporary idea. Saying, 'the world of art is not a world apart' Haacke, merges the realms of art and reality and much like dreams, his work is the result of practical life influences being manipulated to communicate contemporary ideas through symbols and non-traditional functions.
One of the most influential contemporary artists in the design world, based in Japan, Tokujin Yoshioka said in an interview 'I believe nature is the ultimate beauty in this world...I'm not trying to reproduce those elements but I am trying to integrate those elements into my designs' (Millar 2012). The dream-like environments and designs he creates, many existing as part of permanent collections in museums worldwide, are sensory works of art that collaborate beauty in the world with the use of experimental and modern materials for a design. Much like Italian industrial designer Achilles Castiglioni, both designers use minimalist materials to maximal effect. In response to Tokujin, this project is not an attempt to reproduce dreams but is trying to integrate the elements of dreams into the artwork.
Outside of the art world, psychiatrists, psychological scientists, philosophers and many other thinkers have studied and explored the effects of dreams on waking life creativity. Studies have explored the effects of dreams on mood and personality as well as the possibility of problem solving and developing skills through lucid dreaming. First published in 1899, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is an introduction to his dream and personality theories where he describes dreaming as 'the royal road to the subconscious'. Although Freud's theories are controversial and have been discredited by many thinkers, psychologists and scientists, his influence on the topic is so prevalent it cannot be overlooked but rather, it is an invitation for conversation. Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung who collaborated with Freud after their meeting in 1907, has also influenced many thinkers and artist on theories about the relationship between the conscious and unconscious. Diverting from Freud, Jung writes, 'As against Freud's view that the dream is essentially a wish-fulfillment, I hold that the dream is a spontaneous self-portrayal, in symbolic form, of the actual situation in the unconscious' (Jung 1974, p. 505). In saying this, Jung proposes that dreams are a concoction of vivid symbols of what our subconscious is striving to modify about our personality.
Although our personalities are always modifying as some point or another, being aware of the effects of activities on creativity is to allow that modification to be applied to the arts practice. A moving image work made for and with the Australian Center for Contemporary Art (25 May – 18 July 2013) by Daria Martin titled One of the Things that Makes Me Doubt was created whilst the artist underwent Jungian psychoanalysis to help with previously experienced depression and trauma and was inspired by her grandmother’s diary notes and dream paintings. The artwork exhibited presents itself as a dream using symbolism and sensory visuals at a hypnotic pace. This work is an example of one of many works emerging in modern art that prove awareness of the subconscious state is imperative to a better understanding of ones self and the art that is produced.
During a similar period, Veronica Kent and Sean Peoples exhibited at Gertrude Contemporary (11 May – 8 June 2012) in Studio 12 with Veronica Kent and Sean Peoples, Dream Paintings where the artists produced work after performing twenty days of dream telepathy during an Australian Council residency in Barcelona. This meant every night before they went to sleep, they would put something in an envelope and put it under the other artists pillow in the hopes that through dreaming that night, the image in the note would have influenced their dreams. They recounted the nights dream each following day and those became the inspiration for the paintings exhibited. If not for the Jungian psychoanalysis and the dream telepathy, all of the aforementioned works would either have not existed or turned out significantly differently, how different, there is no way of knowing. This project proposes a similar practice but asks for documentation that is published so that there may be a way of seeing where and how creative dreaming influenced each artists practice over the past months.
References:
Jung, CG 1974, Dreams, Princeton University Press.
Millar, J 2012, Tokujin Yoshioka's Waterfall, Dazed Digital, viewed 18-06-13
<http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/11617/1/tokujin-yoshiokas-waterfall>.
Ingmar Bergman and Carlos Saura directly transformed their dreams into film sequences. Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957) starts with a dream sequence and The Seventh Seal (1957) reflects his difficulty with separating reality and fantasy. Saura's Cria Cuervos (1976) follows a girl as she wanders me gets lost in dreams, fantasies and memories in montage. Filmmaker Federico Fellini discovered the work of Carl Jung after meeting Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Ernst Bernhard in the early 1960s. After reading a number of books of Jungian psychology, Fellini started to perceive his dreams as psychic manifestations of the unconscious, which then directly influenced his films such as 81/2 (1963) and City of Women (1980). The film industry has always shown and interest in dreams, from inspired narratives (City of Lost Children 1995 dir. Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet) to more abstract explorations (Eyes Wide Shut 1999 dir. Stanley Kubrick) to literal representations (What Dreams May Come 1998 dir. Vincent Ward).
Contemporary German-American artist Hans Haacke creates art that questions traditional mechanisms and functions to then communicate ideological values and reveal other underlying intentions. What is interesting about Haacke's work is the way he uses objects and symbols that have meaning and purpose in the everyday world but re-constructs them to then transmit a contemporary idea. Saying, 'the world of art is not a world apart' Haacke, merges the realms of art and reality and much like dreams, his work is the result of practical life influences being manipulated to communicate contemporary ideas through symbols and non-traditional functions.
One of the most influential contemporary artists in the design world, based in Japan, Tokujin Yoshioka said in an interview 'I believe nature is the ultimate beauty in this world...I'm not trying to reproduce those elements but I am trying to integrate those elements into my designs' (Millar 2012). The dream-like environments and designs he creates, many existing as part of permanent collections in museums worldwide, are sensory works of art that collaborate beauty in the world with the use of experimental and modern materials for a design. Much like Italian industrial designer Achilles Castiglioni, both designers use minimalist materials to maximal effect. In response to Tokujin, this project is not an attempt to reproduce dreams but is trying to integrate the elements of dreams into the artwork.
Outside of the art world, psychiatrists, psychological scientists, philosophers and many other thinkers have studied and explored the effects of dreams on waking life creativity. Studies have explored the effects of dreams on mood and personality as well as the possibility of problem solving and developing skills through lucid dreaming. First published in 1899, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is an introduction to his dream and personality theories where he describes dreaming as 'the royal road to the subconscious'. Although Freud's theories are controversial and have been discredited by many thinkers, psychologists and scientists, his influence on the topic is so prevalent it cannot be overlooked but rather, it is an invitation for conversation. Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung who collaborated with Freud after their meeting in 1907, has also influenced many thinkers and artist on theories about the relationship between the conscious and unconscious. Diverting from Freud, Jung writes, 'As against Freud's view that the dream is essentially a wish-fulfillment, I hold that the dream is a spontaneous self-portrayal, in symbolic form, of the actual situation in the unconscious' (Jung 1974, p. 505). In saying this, Jung proposes that dreams are a concoction of vivid symbols of what our subconscious is striving to modify about our personality.
Although our personalities are always modifying as some point or another, being aware of the effects of activities on creativity is to allow that modification to be applied to the arts practice. A moving image work made for and with the Australian Center for Contemporary Art (25 May – 18 July 2013) by Daria Martin titled One of the Things that Makes Me Doubt was created whilst the artist underwent Jungian psychoanalysis to help with previously experienced depression and trauma and was inspired by her grandmother’s diary notes and dream paintings. The artwork exhibited presents itself as a dream using symbolism and sensory visuals at a hypnotic pace. This work is an example of one of many works emerging in modern art that prove awareness of the subconscious state is imperative to a better understanding of ones self and the art that is produced.
During a similar period, Veronica Kent and Sean Peoples exhibited at Gertrude Contemporary (11 May – 8 June 2012) in Studio 12 with Veronica Kent and Sean Peoples, Dream Paintings where the artists produced work after performing twenty days of dream telepathy during an Australian Council residency in Barcelona. This meant every night before they went to sleep, they would put something in an envelope and put it under the other artists pillow in the hopes that through dreaming that night, the image in the note would have influenced their dreams. They recounted the nights dream each following day and those became the inspiration for the paintings exhibited. If not for the Jungian psychoanalysis and the dream telepathy, all of the aforementioned works would either have not existed or turned out significantly differently, how different, there is no way of knowing. This project proposes a similar practice but asks for documentation that is published so that there may be a way of seeing where and how creative dreaming influenced each artists practice over the past months.
References:
Jung, CG 1974, Dreams, Princeton University Press.
Millar, J 2012, Tokujin Yoshioka's Waterfall, Dazed Digital, viewed 18-06-13
<http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/11617/1/tokujin-yoshiokas-waterfall>.