Within the space of a dream
The exhibition route
Dreaming under electrodes
What can contemporary science teach us about dreams? Have we finally identified their function? Are well all equal when it comes to dreaming? In the “lab”, scientists try to answer such questions with the help of the latest scientific data.
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Dream incubation temples
The ritual of incubation (from the Latin incubare, “to lie down”) may be regarded as the earliest form of medical consultation. During Antiquity, it emerged in all four corners of the world, constituting a bridge between sacred and profane, and linking humanity to the deities through the tenuous thread of dreams. Incubation found its most eloquent expression in Ancient Greece, beneath the portico of Asclepius’ shrine.
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A portal between two worlds
In many cultures, dreams are interpreted as a space for encounters and communication between beings, whether human or non-human, living or dead. They give access to another form of reality. Hence, they are perceived as portals to other worlds.
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Artists’ visions
Dreams accompany the artistic history of the Western World. Their depiction in the arts has evolved alongside successive redefinitions of the oneiric phenomenon. Dreams were long seen as prophetic; it was only belatedly, in the second half of the 19th century, that the “personal” dream was finally granted artistic legitimacy.
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Tested by dreams
A nightmare expresses a failure of the emotion regulation process during sleep. A way of testing the dreamer with an emotionally impactful scenario inspired by events experienced or hardships to come. Hence, dreams put us to the test so as to help us confront similar situations in reality
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The key to dreams
Oneiromancy, the art of interpreting dreams, has its roots in Antiquity. The practice has been perpetuated across the ages, evolving in order to adapt to beliefs and cultures. Since the 16th century in Europe, “Keys to Dreams” have taken the form of dictionaries listing the themes most likely to appear in dreams and assigning premonitory meanings to dream images.
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On the couch
According to the Austrian neurologist and psychologist Sigmund Freud, dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious”. They don’t tell us about the future as oneiromancy had previously suggested, but about the dreamer’s past. A dream isn’t a message from the outside, but a message to yourself.
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Dream journals, in the dreamer’s private world
A distinction is often made between “small” and “big” dreamers. But paying attention to your dreams, noting them down when you wake up, considerably increases your ability to remember them. Numerous individuals, anonymous and distinguished alike, have bequeathed us invaluable historical and sociological testimonies via their dream journals.
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