It’s time to push aside bowler hats and melting clocks in order to tackle the dreams of today.
In 1899, Sigmund Freud wrote that “the interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” However, despite Freud being seen as the father of ‘Psychoanalysis’ he wasn’t the first to explore the world of dreams and he certainly won’t be the last. Humanity has always had a fascination with the images our brain conjures up whilst we sleep. Even today, students on campus share that fascination, exploring and using dreams for art, research and study.
Lancaster Peeny Greeny Society has been exploring dreams after members found themselves drunkenly astounded by the workings of their sleeping minds. “Stingrays that fly through the air like bats,” pubs where customers “order drinks for the waiters to consume” and reservoirs full of “underwater guinea pigs” all appeared normal in the world of the unconscious.
However, as dreams began to dominate conversation during Peeny Greeny meetings, students noticed that a contemporary interpretation of dreams hadn’t been considered in any piece of culture or art. Although iconic artworks such as Dali’s melting clocks and Magritte’s floating apple depict and represent dreams, neither could be counted as relevant in the wake of modern thought.
Bowler hats are woefully out of fashion, clock faces have become antique and the last time we saw a student with an apple near their face, it was an iPhone. The world has changed so much since the classic iconography of dreams and yet, all depiction and exploration of dreams remains littered with pre-war fashion, references to art of a bygone era and modernised rehashes of already existing work.
Responding to these outdated depictions, Lancaster Peeny Greeny Society has opened the Bureau for Dreams, in a mission to try and capture the dreams of our generation with the aim of discovering something new. It’s the Peeny Greeny belief that the Bureau for Dreams is a meaningful, personal and effortlessly imaginative way to capture dreams and an incredibly democratic approach to art and psychology.
Lancaster Peeny Greeny Society aim to use these dreams to inspire artwork as well as psychological study and research to decipher what the modern day dream looks like. There is so much unique and imaginative power in the dreams of ordinary people.
If you have a dream that has been stuck in your mind and wish to share it, follow the link here
If you want to learn more or get involved with the Bureau for Dreams, you can contact Lancaster Peeny Greeny Society via Instagram or Email
