A Dream Dreaming a Dream Dreaming is a real-time, infinitely changing animation, always similar but also always generated anew, of a dreaming panther roaming the forest. Always experienced differently, the feline’s dream is persistently interrupted, the forest collapses, and the spell is broken. Confused and drowsy, the panther yawns and stretches, only to find herself inside a similar dreamlike scenario once more. She then starts to explore again, continuously acclimatising to finding herself in yet another cycle of dreaming and wakefulness. Inspired by indigenous peoples’ perceptions of the forest and of the entities that inhabit it beyond the human, the work layers different forms of knowledge and knowing – indigenous wisdom, the images and sensations of sleep, and the artificial intelligence of a computer processor – and calls for new ways of being in the world.
A Dream Dreaming a Dream Dreaming, 2020, was commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary for TBA21 onst_age, an online platform that presents artworks in moving image, sound, and animation, as well as research, conversations, podcasts, and interviews with both emerging and leading voices in contemporary art.
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary is a leading international art and advocacy foundation created in 2002 by the philanthropist and collector Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza.