Guardians of Sleep is the new project of the Museum of London: collecting the dreams of Londoners during the Covid-19 crisis. This is the latest initiative of the Museum of London.
The birth of Guardians of Sleep
The pandemic has radically changed our daily lifestyle and the way we relate to others. The stress, anxiety, and worries brought about by the global pandemic affect our sleep quality and, inevitably, our dreams. Starting from this consideration, the Museum of London launched Guardians of Sleep. In particular, the aim is to collect dreams in the era of Covid-19. The project is part of the Collecting COVID initiative. The London museum’s initiative is in collaboration with the Museum of Dreams of Western University in Canada.
Museum of London digital curator Foteini Aravani said she had the idea for Guardians of Sleep after friends and colleagues told her they had more vivid dreams during the lockdown. The project was born with the desire to understand how the pandemic affects the health of our minds. It does it this way: by going to search in the subconscious and our dreams. Sharon Sliwinski, the Museum of Dreams’ creator at Western University in Canada, explained that the project is inspired by Sigmund Freud’s “guardian of sleep”. Therefore, the research aims to give more tools in understanding dreams even in these moments of crisis.
A project for dreamers
The project is aimed exclusively at the citizens of London. The goal is to investigate the nocturnal brain activity of the British capital inhabitants. Also, finding correspondences between the conflicting dreams and feelings that are affecting our days. The result will be a real oneiric “archive”. The fruit of the individual participants’ stories – invited to register on the website of the English museum by next January 15th.
Aravani recalled that traditionally the museums’ collections about dreams have always done so in artistic/visual forms.
“I want to have the voice of dreamers in our collection,” Aravani emphasized. In fact, the dreams will be collected in the form of oral history, without a psychological analysis or interpretation, and made available to researchers.
In fact, in February 2021, the final phase of this fascinating initiative will proceed. Each person will expose their dreams in a series of conversations conducted in virtual mode. The London Museum will then record and catalog them as part of the more extensive Collecting COVID project.
A new, stimulating project by the Museum of London focuses particularly on this aspect, putting our dream activity in response to the lockdown under the magnifying glass.
We have to wait for the new year to find out what strange dreams Londoners may have had. The project has all the credentials to become a fascinating psychological and social cross-section of the historical period we are experiencing. An exciting acquisition to reflect on the very subtle relationships between the unconscious and the outside world.