The Sandman

2008

explores the sublime reality of our dreams and nightmares, our fantasies of metamorphosis, hidden sexual desires, and our fascination with supernatural realm. Dark, funny and whimsical The Sandman is part a grotesque fairy tale for adults – part an artist’s quest for transcendent meaning. Sandman is inspired by E.T.A Hoffman’s stories.

The project was done at the Brickworks on July 3, 4 & 5 2008.  It is a combination of theatre, performance art and installation. It is inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s three stories, “The Sandman”, “Princess Brambilla” and “Master Flea”. Hoffmann was an 18th centry German writer known for his stories in which supernatural characters reveal people’s hidden secrets. Hoffmann’s fiction is considered the first flowering of the horror/fantasy gehre. His work was influential in the writings of Carl Jang and Sigmund Freud amongst others.

Our particular interest in Hoffmann’s work lies in the phantasmalogical dimensions he builds in other to awaken powers of personal imagination. We begin our exploration of collective fantasies of metamorphosis dy conjuring Hoffmann’s dreamlike, magical world. This is a place where actions are governed by the intuitive eye and the strenth of personal imagination.  In our age of consumer-oriented mass media and political propaganda, the pover of insight becomes the strongest weapon of resistance.