Dreams are being turned into reality as new research investigating the unusual experiences of people with depersonalisation symptoms is being brought to life in an art exhibition.
The Living the Dream project, a major international study into depersonalisation, found that people who experience these symptoms sometimes experience life from a very different perspective, both while awake and while dreaming.
Those experiencing depersonalisation often report feeling as though they are not real and that their body does not belong to them.
The study, led by Dr Jane Aspell at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), is the first to examine how people with this disorder experience dreams, and collected almost 1,000 dream reports from participants.
Now these dreams have been recreated by eight students from ARU’s MA Illustration course and the artwork will go on display for the first time on March 31 and April 1 as part of the Cambridge Festival.
This collaboration between art and science, led by psychologist Matt Gwyther and illustrator Dr Nanette Hoogslag, with the support of artist and creative technologist Emily Godden, has resulted in 12 original artworks, which have been created using the latest audio-visual technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), and are presented using a mix of audio-visual installation, virtual reality (VR) experiences, and traditional media.
Dr Aspell, associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at ARU and head of the Self and Body Lab, said: “People who experience depersonalisation sometimes feel detached from their self and body, and a common complaint is that it’s like they are watching their own life as a film.
“Because their waking reality is so different, myself and my international collaborators – Dr Anna Ciaunica, Professor Bigna Lenggenhager and Dr Jennifer Windt – were keen to investigate how they experience their dreams.
“People who took part in the study completed daily ‘dream diaries’, and it is fabulous to see how these dreams have been recreated by this group of incredibly talented artists.”
Matt Gwyther added: “Dreams are both incredibly visual and surreal, and you lose so much when attempting to put them into words. By bringing them to life as art, it has not only produced fabulous artwork, but it also helps us as scientists better understand the experiences of our research participants.”
Amongst the artists contributing to the exhibition is MA student Jewel Chang, who has recreated a dream about being chased. When the person woke up, they continued to experience it and were unsure whether they were experiencing the dream or reality.
False awakenings and multiple layers of dreams can be confusing, affecting our perception of time and space. Jewel used AI to create an environment with depth and endless moving patterns that makes the visitor feel trapped in their dream, unable to escape.
The immersive exhibition, which is free to attend, is being held at ARU’s campus on East Road in Cambridge on March 31 and April 1. For further details, visit here
