*A Wake-Dream* explores the wake-dreaming continuum, a contemporary theory that defines four different states of consciousness: (1) focused waking thought, (2) looser, less structured waking thought, (3) daydreaming, and (4) dreaming. It is the billions of connecting neurons on the brain's surface that allow us to experience our thoughts and imagery, and each state of consciousness has its own neuron connection pattern. For example, in the first state of focused waking thought, connections are made in a logical, linear manner as in A > B > C, much like the thinking required for working out a mathematical problem whereas in the fourth state, that of dreaming, connections become far less rational and self-reflective, and much more complex and image-based.

Water is the medium through which the continuum is examined in *A Wake-Dream* as 50 – 70% of an adult's body weight is composed of water, and its flow is as symbolic of blood through veins as well as the brain's movement through different states of consciousness. The four pools and their projected visuals represent the four states: focused waking thought is signified through self-reflective handwritten notes, jottings, drawings, and diagrams for the project; looser, less-structured waking thought is denoted through the combination of language and still photography; daydreaming is characterized by stop-motion animations and finally, digitally produced graphics correspond to dreaming. In the condition of dreaming, the formation of connections is guided by the prevailing emotion. Thus the content of the pools' visuals are a series of explorations of the five main emotional states – fear, happiness, love, anger and sadness. Through motion-tracking and generative imagery, the waterfall is the stimulus for the state of consciousness, i.e. neuron connections are produced when a user plays with the falling sheet of water and the extent of the interaction determines which pool (or state of consciousness) will be lit up by the extensive lighting effects.

In keeping with the user's firsthand experience of sight and touch in *A Wake-Dream*, the audio also retains a phenomenonological aspect as the sound of a heart beat is employed at speeds conducive to, and evocative of, the prevailing emotion. A final consideration of note is that the basic mechanisms of dreaming – the making of broad, non-linear connections in the mind guided by the dominant emotion – are also very similar to the mechanism of making new connections that underlies artistic creativity...* Perhaps this will be more closely investigated in *A Wake Dream II*!!

·Hartmann, Ernest, "The Psychology and Physiology of Dreaming: A New Synthesis", Gamwell, Lynn (ed.), *Dreams 1900 – 2000; Science, Art, and the Unconscious Mind*, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999, p. 61.

Website: http://www.awakedreamvision.com/