DO PILLOWS DREAM
Animating the inanimate
Marina Abramović, Untitled (Sodalite pillow), 1994
As an essential accessory for sleep, the pillow is at once universal and personal. Intimate and familiar, the pillow comforts the body. However, contemporary technology, in adopting the pillow as an interactive instrument, posits a future pillow. No longer limited to being an object of comfort, the future pillow acquires an oneiric function for accessing, monitoring, as well as shaping the dreamworld.
Pillow Culture contends that this future pillow, as an actuating entity with its own sentient properties, will not only augment, chart, and record the neurological dream state of the sleeping brain, but will also influence and eventually re–visualize our dream state, thereby potentially re-figuring our conscious wakeful state. With the ability to gauge one’s private bio-information, the future pillow will operate as a responsive interface and transmitter, as well as a receiver of experiences and emotions currently lodged in the dream state.
Yet, the future of the oneiric pillow is less one of technological advance than a recovery of sorts, of the pillow as a mediator of the dreamworld. There is a prehistory for the cultural aspirations of this notion of the oneiric pillow, one that becomes evident when surveying objects of soporific comfort from ancient to contemporary that straddle the boundary between states of reverie and deep sleep.
Pillow Culture is assembling a glossary of pillows in relation to the subject of dreaming, What follows are two entries (AIR, ROCK) with additional future A-Z entries to include: BUBBLE, CLAY, DECAY, FEATHER, GAS, HEAT, LIQUID, NARCOTIC, MEMORY, SOUND, TOY, WOOD., X-RAY. Each glossary entry consists of three parts: 1) a photographic pairing of pillows that offers a thematic juxtaposition of broader categories of dreaming, e.g. prophetic, therapeutic, curative, phantasmagorical, erotic, 2) identifiers- date, material, inventor, artist, 3) appendix- notes and selected bibliographic references.
Aspects of Do Pillows Dream has more recently appeared as part of an article entitled a Glossary of Dream Architecture in CABINET’s, issue 67 on Dreams co- authored with Richard Sommer.
AIR
Name: Pneumatic Pillow
Date: patented July 18, 1905
Pillow Type: mobile Pillow
Pillow Subject: therapeutic
Dimensions: variable
Material: rubber
References: patent number: US 795108A
Image references: USPTO
Name: 50’ x 50’ pillow
Date: 1969
Pillow Type: mobile
Pillow Subject: collective
Dimensions: variable
Material: polyethylene
References: Ant Farm the Inflatable & Dome Years, Fred Unterseher, 2009
NOTES:
1) Sleeping on air evokes the common dream of floating or flying and the idea of being airborne or carried away:
“...we are carried in the air and by the air - which we breathe according to the rhythm of our breath…”
Gaston Bachelard, Air and Dreams, 1943
2) For the ancient Greeks, air (a er ) -invisible, ubiquitous, formless, and limitless- was the element from which all else originated and was synonymous with p neuma or breath, wind, air in motion, as well as spirit or soul.
3) Author Steven Connor introduced the “pneumatic sublime” to characterize an eighteenth-century interest in air that extended to the curative and uplifting powers of various gases and vapors.
Steven Connor. T he Matter of Air, Science and Art of the Ethereal, 2010
4) Late-nineteenth-century U.S. patents demonstrate a concentrated interest in the possibilities of pneumatic mattresses and pillows – an advance in the hygienic properties of the components of the bed from animal-based fillers– and one made possible through vulcanizing rubber; a technological breakthrough underwritten by distant rubber plantations operating under the harshest of labor conditions. Yet, the interest and technological advancement in pneumatics corresponds to …….
5) In 1904, a patent submission by L.F. Doellinger for a Pneumatic Pillow featured a rubber bladder with a concealed hand pump. Unlike feather, foam, or kapok-filled pillows, the Pneumatic Pillow featured an easy-to-use thumbscrew concealed within a ruffled pillowcase to inflate or deflate the pillow according to personal preference. Albeit manually controlled, the pillow …
6) Ant Farm‘s pneumatic 5 0’ x 50’ Pillow was one of a series of large-scale inflatables that the experimental architecture collaborative produced in the 1970s. Evoking clouds, Ant Farm’s inflatables were a counter-culture’s utopian dream of an anti-architecture - do-it-yourself bubbles filled with “free” air and made of polyethene, and tape. By following Ant Farm’s Inflatocookbook , a graphic instructional manual on how to calculate air pressure, wind loads, proper fan sizes, construction templates, etc., a nyone could become an “inflatoexpert.”
Ant Farm. I nflatocookbook , 1971
http://www.artecontemporanea.com/ant-farm-inflatocookbook/
http://web.media.mit.edu/~bcroy/inflato-splitpages-small.pdf
Like the anti-gravitational experience of an outer-space capsule yet tethered to the ground, Ant Farm’s 5 0’ x 50’ Pillow offered a space absent the earth-bound conventions of wall, floor, and ceiling. Ant Farm depicted figures inhabiting this giant air-filled pillow in various states of playful reverie - a gigantic communal bubble for collective dreaming.
Marc Dessauce, ed., T he Inflatable Moment, pneumatics and protest in ’68 , 1999
7) A dystopian counter-example to Ant Farm’s transparent, communal bubble was the Rover, a large, opaque balloon with artificial intelligence and murderous instincts, featured in the British 1967 television series T he Prisoner .
TV program series- The Prisoner, 1967, character- Rover
ROCK
Name: Ancient Egyptian amuletic headrest
Date: New Kingdom, 18th-20th Dynasty, ca. 1570-1320 BCE
Pillow Type: funerary
Pillow Subject: possibly therapeutic
Dimensions: 2.5cm H
Material: jasper
Provenance: unknown
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, #74.51.4458
References: https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/7680/7420
Image references: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Name: Untitled (Obsidian Pillow, Sodalite Pillow, Rose Quartz Pillow)
Date: 1994
Artist: Marina Abramovic (b.1946)
Pillow Type: medicinal
Dream Subject: therapeutic
Dimensions: 7.5” x 3.75” x 3.2” (19 x 9.5 x 7.8cm.)
Material: Untitled (Sodalite Pillow) incised artist's initials and numbered M.A 6/21' (on the reverse) sodalite Executed in 1994, this work is number six from an edition of twenty-one. Signed on underside.
Untitled (Rose Quartz Pillow) incised artist's initials 'M.A 7/21' (on the reverse) rose quartz 7 3/8 x 3¾ x 2¾in. (18.8 x 9.5 x 7cm.)
Untitled (Obsidian Pillow) inscised artist's initials and numbered 'M.A 5/21' (on the reverse) obsidian 7½ x 3¾ x 3 1/8in. (19 x 9.8 x 8cm.) Executed in 1994, this work is number five from an edition of twenty-one
References: www.christies.com
Location: private collection
NOTES:
1) Archaeologists speculate that the earliest pillows used for sleep may have been shaped from rock or stone. The ancient Egyptian “pillow” featured a curved neck-piece supported by a shaft projecting from a flat base that was made from a variety of materials such as wood, earthenware, and ivory. The material and shape had practical benefits - offering climatic comfort, elevating and protecting the head from crawling insects during sleep - and the durability needed to sustain the afterlife in burial.
Russmann, Edna, editor, 2001. “Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum.” Berkeley: University of California Press. 161-3.
2) Accessorizing the body in ancient Egyptian tombs were stone amulets in the form of miniature headrests. Found in the wrappings of mummys, these headrest amulets had an apotropaic purpose and were thought to ward off evil forces. Significantly, the ancient Egyptian word for headrest (wrs) is related to the word (rs), which means “to awaken” or dream, suggesting that the earliest pillows had an oneiric function:
https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/7680/7420
….The ancient Egyptians used the word qed (symbolized by a bed) to denote sleep, and the word rswt or resut (depicted as an open eye) to refer to dream. The literal translation of rswt means to come awake; thus, a dream is expressed in hieroglyphics by the symbol of bed, combined with the symbol of open eye. Such a combination makes the word dream to be read as awaken within sleep, which is an early description of the physiologic similarity of dreams to wakefulness, despite being asleep. This symbol may be pointing also to the state of consciousness that we call today lucid dreaming ….
Tarek Asaad, S leep in Ancient Egypt , Sleep Medicine, A Comprehensive Guide to Its Development, Clinical Milestones, and Advances in Treatment Editors: Chokroverty, Sudhansu, Billiard, Michel (Eds.) 2016
3) What is the difference between “rock” and “stone”? Rock, in geological terms, refers to the mixture of common minerals which make up the majority of the earth’s crust. Stone refers to rock formed through human manipulation. Within rock formations, however, is a third geological condition - minerals. Minerals are crystalline structures, composed of single elements or complex compounds.
Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals , National Audubon Society, C. Chesterman, K. E. Lowe, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979
4) The written record of the therapeutic properties of stones and minerals took the form of the lapidary (L . lapidaria ). The contemporary lapidary is now a specialized study limited to describing stone and gem cutting. However, prior to the systematizing of geological knowledge in western culture, lapidaries were popular reference works, often combined with medicinal and therapeutic treatises on herbs and plants. Lapidaries gathered the beliefs and imagined attributes of stones to heal and protect against a variety of ailments whether physical, mental, or spiritual. Lapidaries are found in European, Islamic, as well as Asian cultures. An early mineralogical treatise and source for subsequent European lapidaries is De Lapidibus (“On Stones”) by Greek philosopher Theophrastus (372 - 287 BCE). In China, the twenty-five volume dictionary of herbs, Ben Cao Gang Mu (“Compendium of Materia Medica”) compiled by Li Shizhen (1518- 93 ACE) details medicinal drugs and illustrates prescriptions. Sleeping on jade, for example, was believed to cure insomnia, depression, enhance memory, and curtail hair loss, among other ailments.
Riddle, John M., 1970. “Lithography in the Middle Ages...Lapidaries Considered as Medical Texts.” Pharmacy in History (Vol. 12, No.2), 39- 50
5) The legacy of the lapidary treatise is evident in alternative medical practices that deploy the use of stones and crystals as they relate to states of dreaming. Contemporary books such as C rystal Prescriptions: The A-Z Guide to over 1,200 symptoms and their healing crystals, by Judy Hall, or C rystals: The modern guide to crystal healing by Yulia Van Doren as well as a number of websites, repeat the format of traditional lapidaries including the use of crystals, gems, and stones to produce a variety of dream states.
6) A sample list of crystals and gems highlights the range of therapeutic, preventive, as well as interpretive properties given to stones and minerals in mediating the dream state:
Ametrine - Aids in gaining insight from dreams.
Amethyst - Color represents the transition from day to night, ideal for dream interpretation.
Angel Site - Aids in bringing dreams into reality.
Barite - Used to induce dream states in order to aid in recollection.
Black Tourmaline - Protects and absorbs negative energy during sleep.
Chrysocolla - Fosters prophetic dreams by inducing trance states.
Covellite - Promotes conscious dreams.
Danburite - Aids in dream interpretation.
Fire Opals - Brings out fiery and erotic dreams.
Hematite - Protective stone helps in dream clarity
Herkimer Diamonds - Aids in dream recall and interpretation.
Labradorite - Used to promote daydreaming.
Malachite - Promotes vivid dream imagery.
Moldavite - Amplifies and deepens dream experiences.
Rubies - Protects against nightmares and distressing dreams.
Snowflake Obsidian - Prevents nightmares.
7) Artist Marina Abramovic’s various editions of solid quartz crystal blocks shaped into headrests are part of Abramovic’s ongoing interest in materials that possess natural energetic properties. These works reference the scientific by highlighting the piezoelectric effect of quartz crystals, where mechanical pressure generates a repetitive electric charge, commonly used in devices such as computers and clocks. When pressing their heads against the wall-mounted pillows, participants are encouraged to assume meditative states of mind in an effort to absorb the 'vibrations' and 'healing' powers of the crystal. With this work, Abramovic simultaneously references the ancient, the scientific, the mineral, and the esoteric.