Dreamlet
The Bridge of Little Dreams
Laboratory about Intermediate States of Consciousness
Participating Artists: Thomas Proksch, Lan Hungh, Joana Lucas, Lilia Tiki Marchesini, Dagmar Rauwald, Carla Ortiz, Maria Luisa Mészáros Ortiz, Leonor Beutel, Katja Hommel, Razbev Vladimir, Alifiyah, Finnka Willner, Lucia Fernández Moujan, Marina Sarmiento, Mana Muscarel, Mathias Gatti, Marcos Mangani, Alicia Morán, Anna Nowicka
Opening: Friday 29th May 18:00 - 22:00
Duration: 29.05. - 07.06.2026
Project by Eli Cornejo
Co-Curation Stephanie Fenner
The Concept: The Bridge of Little Dreams
A "Dreamlet" is a short, fleeting dream. It lacks the epic narrative of deep dreams and the emotional intensity of nightmares. It is a fragment: a fleeting image that flashes just before falling asleep, a strange physical sensation at the threshold of waking, or a thought that dissolves before we can grasp it. Dreamlets occur during hypnagogia—the transition from wakefulness to sleep—and hypnopompia—the return from sleep to wakefulness. They serve as the "gateway to dreams," the threshold where conscious reality begins to blur and the unconscious begins to whisper.
Modern science confirms what ancient civilizations intuitively sensed: this intermediate state is not merely a pause between activities, but a space of profound brain activity. Neuroscientific studies show that during hypnagogia, our neurons form more flexible and diverse connections, thereby enabling new associations between concepts that would remain separate during the waking state. Research conducted at MIT and Harvard has demonstrated that dreams induced during this phase can boost creativity by up to 78%, and that it is possible to deliberately "incubate" specific dream content to enhance problem-solving abilities. The "day residue"—the persistence of visual and emotional memories in our dreams—undergoes a unique transformation during hypnagogia: the images persist, but the negative emotions are gradually neutralized, as if the brain were creating a safe space to process the experience. This boundary between states—metaphorically as well as literally—is the bridge we seek to build between the participants who are joining from different places, connecting physically and virtually. Just as dreams bridge the gap between wakefulness and sleep, our project connects different cultural shores to jointly explore what emerges within the spaces in between.
Open Questions: What the Threshold Whispers to Us
In a society that idolizes productivity and fears silence, hypnagogia confronts us with essential questions:
What constitutes wakefulness, and what constitutes sleep? If our neurons remain intensely active during sleep, where, then, is "consciousness" truly located? What place is there for the unproductive? In hyper-accelerated living conditions in turbulent times with a lack of stability and peace — how can we reclaim the right to pause, to embrace the vital function of rest?
What do we dream of collectively? What images rise from the collective unconscious in a world shaped by war, migration, and the climate crisis? A society’s dreams serve as a barometer of its psychological health.
How do we navigate transitions? Hypnagogia serves as a communal space for transformation: between countries, between languages, between identities. Can we learn to find comfort in the indeterminate and find calmness in the practice?
These questions lie at the very heart of this collective laboratory. We invite you to step into this space for rest and practice peace together and see this project as a chance to experience. Do you dare to step into the dream and transform it?