7/4/2005
Clement Page
VTO, London
Two new screen film and related photographs. 'Sleepwalker' explores the relationship between the dreaming mind and the body in the nocturnal activity of Somnambulism. The film reveals connections and disparities between the actions of both. It's in these actions that we discover how permeable the boundaries are between conscious and unconscious human action.
Sleepwalker
VTO is pleased to present, Clement Page’s new two screen film ‘Sleepwalker’ and related photographs. Sleepwalker explores the relationship between the dreaming mind and the body in the nocturnal activity of Somnambulism. While sleepwalking has been the focus of various media articles and programmes in recent years, little is known about the causes of somnambulism or its chemical and motor effects upon the body. The film, by juxtaposing the sleepwalker’s body with its dream reveals connections and disparities between the actions of both. It’s in these actions that we discover how permeable the boundaries are between conscious and unconscious human action.
The night the film begins, ‘R’, dreams that he finds himself in a strange derelict warehouse, following it’s winding corridors, he discovers himself in a unfamiliar study, surrounded by hundreds of books he’s never seen before. He searches in his dream for what seems like hours, through piles of papers and books neatly arranged in a random order. The frustration at not finding what he is looking for, causes the dreamer to sleepwalk into the real study of his house and destroy it, like a burglar searching for hidden valuables.
After destroying his study, he attempts to escape from his house, being pursued in parallel by an unknown presence in his dream. He repeatedly bangs into walls before climbing out onto the derelict railway bridge next to his house.
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