Somnium Infantem Somniare – Dream Like a Baby

This installation piece was exhibited for Nuit Blanche 2008.

I got the idea for this installation from the film ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’, and from the time of year that Nuit Blanche is held. In the film, people challenge Baron Munchausen about his fabulous tales of adventure, suggesting that they’re lies or fantasies. Then it occurred to me how much we feel like we have to make rational sense of our own experiences. It is because of our society? Also the time of year that Nuit Blanche is held is a time for dreaming, because it is the time of changing seasons, when we put away our memories of summer and get ready for winter. Thinking about these two elements, I asked myself: do dreams have to make sense all the time?

Dreaming and imagination are for all of us; dreams when we sleep; dreams that we have for the future; daydreams. As we grow, we try to make sense out of dreams and imagination, reducing everything to reason. What is the point of this? Dreams should be free. In the end, they might even make sense, but why should they have to? They don’t have to make sense when we sleep; why should they have to make sense when we are awake.

This is my attempt to help people dream like babies. It is a mobile that hangs from the ceiling and rotates by means of a small electric motor. Strings are hanging from the top part, which is round, and objects are attached to the strings; beads, coloured film, animal figures, leaves, twigs, candy, chocolate, etc.

I would like people to go inside the circle and look around at these objects. Three ideas are represented in this installation: the first, represented by the objects, is that dreams and imagination don’t have to make sense; the second is safety and peace: it’s a safe place inside the circle; the third is eternity, the circular motion and the circle of life, we can be babies again.

“Somnium Infantem Somniare”,  Mixed Media,  Approx. 5ft x 10ft

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