CURATED BY GOODROOM / JOHANNES FRICKE WALDTHAUSEN

Bringing together the practice of thirteen international artists, the exhibition Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens appeals to the intuitive mind and creativity beyond referential thinking. Departing from the artists´ production, it navigates through narratives in the realm of surrealist animation, abstraction and subjects of ‘New Materialism’ embracing the logic of the internet.

The concept of the show develops around notions of the screen as an interface for both the conscious and the subconscious mind, as well as a surface for projections of communication and technological abstraction. The exhibition aims to synchronize the intuitive mind with screens as doorways to lucid states of both the rational and the dream-like. As Jean Baudrillard claims, “we used to live in the imaginary world of the mirror and the stage. Today, we live in the imaginary world of the screen, the interface and networks. We too have become screens.” This entails states of increasing polarities.

Exploring perceptions of the ‘Self’ defined through screens – as entry gates and liminal, transitional spaces of contemplation – the artists and the artwork speak via codes, signs and symbols, the magical and transcendental, secrets, hidden information and ‘behind the scenes’ moments.

What happens to our sense of belonging, our social relationships and the ‘Self’, when the intuitive mind becomes increasingly transformed by technology and removed from natural experiences and the body? How do screens feel?

Text by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen