Only in dreams

interesting article about an exhibition dedicated entirely to sleep and dreams. originally found on boingboing.net

exerpt:
"But proving that the brain is active is a long way from proving what it’s actually doing. Dreams, particularly – which are distinct from our rational lives yet somehow entwined with them – are a seemingly eternal source of puzzlement and fascination: where do they come from, what are they for, and what do they mean? Goya’s etching “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” illustrates the evil which appears at night in dreams; various pictures after Fuseli’s “The Nightmare” (see FT207:32–40) show the mingled fear and wonder such fevered imaginings inspire, though perhaps the most entertaining version to the modern visitor is a German public education poster from the 1930s, which inventively transforms Fuseli’s sexually suggestive vision of horror into an exhortation to hard work; it translates as “Unfinished tasks pursue you in your sleep. Don’t put things off until tomorrow, do them straight away”. Claiming to be a more scientific portrayal of dreams were the pictures taken by Louis Darget, a key figure in spiritualist circles, who sought to make thoughts and mental energy visible on photographic plates."

link to article here

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