12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Messy Glossary

Term

Dream

Texts

Proposed by Feben Amara

All my dreams

In your wildest dreams

I have a dream

To live my dream,

I dream my life away

Who dreams of better days?

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly,

because you tread on my dreams.

In your wildest dreams

I have a dream

To live my dream,

I dream my life away

Dreams of realities peace.

Dreams of infinite grief.

Cause Aaliyah had a dream,

Left Eye had a dream.
So I reached out to Kanye and

(I brought you all my dreams)

A co-seduction with Martin Luther King, William Yeats, Kendrick Lamar, Ozzy Osbourne, and The Game.

Proposed by Thị Minh Huyền Nguyễn

While asleep. While standing. While walking. In the evening and at night. In the morning. In between. Daydreaming. Night dreaming.

In dreaming, we process the unconscious. We process the past.

People we have seen before. Places we have been to before. Situations that have happened before.

Un_comfortable un_truths confront us. Often in nightmares. Encounters with ancestors and spirits.

They are more negative rather than positive experiences. At least, that’s what science says. Yet, can we control our dreams? More than just dreaming in our sleep? Can we dream our future? Desire it? Imagine it?

What would it mean to realize a collective dream? To connect on a daily basis? Beyond the capitalist American Dream, towards one based on solidarity, a “beloved community,” as Martin Luther King and Thich Nhat Hanh have called it.

What daily steps would we have to take in the here and now?