CHARLIE RAE WALKER
The DREAM MACHINE art album stems from a desire to create a beautiful, haunting and immersive artistic musical experience. I want to create an interactive , illuminated shadow sculpture room in a gallery that forms the set for a live music show series.
The Album’s working title is ‘Dream Machine’. It is based around a song which describes a futuristic totalitarian state where citizens are trapped into ‘Dream Machines’, where the state drains them of their dreams to create a source of energy to power the state. In this world, our Dreams have become a commodity. In order to free themselves from the regime, citizens must building shields around our minds that ‘not even a machine can unwind’.
"They put us in a dream machine, It could have been a beautiful dream..
Nothing was as it seemed."
This song forms a prelude to the narrative context of the album.
The following songs are from the voice of a citizen trapped in the dream machine world who seeks freedom. These songs are like diary entries of their inner lives as they try to unravel and protect their true self from the grips of the regime. In this world, there is isolation so deep from the loss of dreams, that people hold on to tattered shreds of their true selves trying not to lose themselves to the dream stealing machines. . The theme is reminiscent of stories such as 1984 and Brave New World.
The Art installation extends the story that is hinted at in the album. Giving the audience an interactive experience that deepens and enriches this story.
"Hey, Are you still awake, I need a friend to take this pain from me. "
The songs are like messages in a bottle from the citizens of the dream stealing world. Are you out there? can you hear me?
"Ive been broken in half, Ive been torn in two"
The songs describe an inner journey battling with the discociative experiemce of having your dreaming severed and stolen from you.
ABOUT THE INTERACTIVE SONG AND ART INSTALLATION
Audiences enter a shadow environment with flashlights and encounter a bizarre dystopian future environment which is formed out of cryptic shadow sculptures. These are sculptures that are designed to look abstract until light is shone on them in specific angles, where they then begin to tell a particular story.
During the shadow experience, the audience navigates a series of installation halls, like a maze, which is adorned with sculptures. They then come to a room where where they are put into machines to have their dreams milked by the totalitarian state which has developed technology to power itself off the dreams of the people.
Audience members put on elaborate ornamental ‘bio militaristic’ VR style headsets , to experience a ‘Dream Milking’. The audience then sees their dreams projected and distorted- the dreams based on animations I made out of crumpled paper which appear to tell stories and then end in crumpled and burning paper.
I am inspired by artists such as Bjork and David Byrne who create large scale collaborative art projects and immersive theatre with their musical ideas. I am also inspired by the installation work of Yayoi Kusama, her infinity rooms, as well as amusement park Haunted houses, cabinets of curiosities and escape rooms.
The shadow sculpture technique is inspired by the 'Visual Musician' puppetry technique of Tim Gosley and Christian Boltanski's art installations titled : Theatre D' Ombres.
A story I am very inspired by is from my scottish heritage, it is called The Dream Makers.
A LIST OF LINKS HERE
The Dream Makers Story
https://scotlands-stories.com/the-dream-makers-story-reading/
Article about tim Gosley's Visual Musician technique:
Christian Boltanski’s Theatro D’ombres https://www.jupiterartland.org/art/christian-boltanski-theatre-dombres/
Bjork and Aleph, sound installation at Centre Pompidou, Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoUDNvajZoc
The Theatrical innovations of David Byrne https://theateroftheminddenver.com/