NAME
Evolving Dreams
ABOUT
This project explores the ideas of “evolving dreams” - using VR to represent personal dreams in a virtual form and allowing visitors to modify it as a way to reflect the idea that our dreams are evolving subjects that we actively reconstruct.
CONCEPT
The Story Started with...
The project started with my experimental project called Dreaming Reality, and this is inspired by Freud who expressed that dream content is derived from but not identical to real-life; thus, he suggested that some transformation and connection must exist between these materials. And I started to ask - if there must be a connection between dreams and reality, is there a clear boundary between these two materials? Where is that middle state? And what is it like to confuse dreams and reality (sometimes I experienced that too)? Like people with sleep disorder narcolepsy, who mistake the memory of a dream for a real experience, in this photography project, I want to explore that experience of confusion - by using strong colors as a metaphor of the “bizarre and miracle dreams” and apply that on the realistic photos that I took, as a result, the object and scene, in reality, became less recognizable, more abstract and sometimes can’t even realize that’s the image based on real photos. By confusing the dreams and reality, these images started to lose the sense of time and location.
The project started with my experimental project called Dreaming Reality, and this is inspired by Freud who expressed that dream content is derived from but not identical to real-life; thus, he suggested that some transformation and connection must exist between these materials. And I started to ask - if there must be a connection between dreams and reality, is there a clear boundary between these two materials? Where is that middle state? And what is it like to confuse dreams and reality (sometimes I experienced that too)? Like people with sleep disorder narcolepsy, who mistake the memory of a dream for a real experience, in this photography project, I want to explore that experience of confusion - by using strong colors as a metaphor of the “bizarre and miracle dreams” and apply that on the realistic photos that I took, as a result, the object and scene, in reality, became less recognizable, more abstract and sometimes can’t even realize that’s the image based on real photos. By confusing the dreams and reality, these images started to lose the sense of time and location.
DREAM RECONSTRUCTION
#1 Underwater Theater
#1 Underwater Theater
DREAM RECONSTRUCTION
#2 My Apartment was in a Cave.
#2 My Apartment was in a Cave.
DREAM RECONSTRUCTION
#3 Smoky Space
#3 Smoky Space
DREAM RECONSTRUCTION
#4 Japanese Glitch Street
#4 Japanese Glitch Street
SOCIAL VR
Carried on to this project... evolving dreams?
The memories of our dreams are unreliable and oftentimes distorted and transformed by various influences such as social influence. This project explores the ideas of “evolving dreams” - that using VR, my dreams not only can be shared but also edited by people, and so evolving with very limited personal control. The documentation of the progress of my evolving dreams creates an analogy of how our dreams are all vulnerable due to unreliable memories. And the capability of the VR platform, which not only allows the representation of my dreams in a virtual form, but also enables the open-access of my dream to anyone at any time/location for editing, reflects the idea that our memories are consolidated with unnoticeable and uncontrollable influences, and thus, our dreams are evolving subjects rather than constant materials in our memories.
The memories of our dreams are unreliable and oftentimes distorted and transformed by various influences such as social influence. This project explores the ideas of “evolving dreams” - that using VR, my dreams not only can be shared but also edited by people, and so evolving with very limited personal control. The documentation of the progress of my evolving dreams creates an analogy of how our dreams are all vulnerable due to unreliable memories. And the capability of the VR platform, which not only allows the representation of my dreams in a virtual form, but also enables the open-access of my dream to anyone at any time/location for editing, reflects the idea that our memories are consolidated with unnoticeable and uncontrollable influences, and thus, our dreams are evolving subjects rather than constant materials in our memories.
PLAYERS
DOCUMENTATION
DOCUMENTATION
PLAYER DEMO VIDEOS
CREDITS
Carla Gannis, instructor