Per Huttner is leading the work of creating performances for sleeping audiences in a new project called “Delta.” The participants in the project are interested how art can become a part of enriching the third of our lives that we spend asleep. The starting point can be found in the fact that some people have very rich nocturnal lives, while others only experience sleep as a necessity without any intrinsic value. Those whose minds are active at night and are aware of it, dream of magical and fantastic places and develop inspiring stories. Others find sleep a profoundly sensual experience where bodily pleasures take another form. The group asks where this difference comes from. Is it genetic or is it dependent on how we view sleep, how we relate to it? Can a changed outlook on sleep enrich our nocturnal lives? If so, how can art actively be a part of positively influencing such a perspective?

The project, in other words, changes how we understand sleep and the processes that take place in our bodies during the night. In order to do this in the best of ways, we are approaching the problem in two ways: Firstly, we collaborate with people who have alternative outlook on sleep – both in the arts, in the sciences and culturally (many non-western cultures see sleep very differently from us). Secondly, we develop special biofeedback technology so that the sleepers can actively influence the nocturnal artistic output themselves. In short, the nocturnal performances we propose are

December 11-13, 2020, Per Huttner and Vision Forum are organising a workshop in Bologna and Marzabotto together with Italian artist Emilio Fantin. He has over the last decade developed wonderful artworks and creative working processes where he investigates how people can collectively investigate and experience dreams. Together with the Vision Forum team, we will test merge his ideas with our research on performances for sleeping people practically. Artists and cultural workers from Sweden, Italy and Switzerland will together work for three days with sleep and dreams in inspiring settings.

Delta is supported by Kulturbryggan in Stockholm