industrial living as a frozen dream, and our awakening

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From the catalogue to the exhibition of Dreaming,
work by students of product development in
Antwerp:

This year, as in previous years, I invited the
students to make a work for an exhibition. The
work was not to be a message or a command to the
people visiting but an exploration of each
students experience of dreaming, or of associated
ideas. The finished work could be simply a record
of discoveries or it could be a piece composed in
any medium, visual art or music, diapositives or
video, a story or an imaginary letter, anything
that might evoke what each one had learnt. I was
hoping that many students would succeed in making
or doing something that was beyond what each had
previously been able to do and that it would be
something to look back on with pleasure. A real
work of art.

I announced the subject of dreaming on the first
day of the course  it was the first idea that came
into my mind as I awoke that morning after several
days of being unable to think of one I liked as
much. But I felt that it was rather difficult.

As in previous years we began with three or four
days of practice in formal methods of collective
design, learning to collaborate creatively and to
learn from each others minds. We began with a vast
brainstorming on dreaming which yielded about 1600
ideas in about 20 minutes. Then each of us
classified about a tenth of these to produce
personal maps of the field. After looking at these
for a few minutes, and after several minutes of
silence, each of us made a quick design, a rapid
attempt at the final result, but perhaps one to
discard later if a better one was found. Then each
of us presented our quick designs to an
affirmative group and received positive
suggestions from the others, beginning formally
with the words If I were you I would . After this
each of us worked individually to construct our
exhibits with occasional help from myself and the
others if needed.

And now, as I await the exhibition, I am wondering
what this years subject will provoke. And as in
every year of my visits to Antwerp I expect to be
surprised by the amazing quality and energy of
what the students here manage to do in the last
day or two before the show.

jcj, January 1996