Living in a Dream
Overview
The Living in a Dream exhibition was part of Cambridge Festival 2023 and took place on 31st March and 1st April 2023 at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. The exhibition explored the intersection of consciousness research, art and lived experience — asking what it means to feel as though you are living in a dream.
The exhibition also marked the launch of a new eBook, Essays on Dissociation and Depersonalisation, which can be read here.
The Exhibition
The event brought together neuroscience research, AI-generated art, and personal narratives to create an immersive exploration of depersonalisation and dream-like states of consciousness. Visitors engaged with interactive exhibits, research posters, and artwork that visualised the subjective experience of altered states of self.
Exhibition Photos
Exhibition Handout
Artist Talks
AI Artwork
The exhibition featured AI-generated artwork created using tools such as DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, exploring visual representations of dissociation, dreaming and altered states of consciousness.
Press Coverage
The exhibition received international press coverage:
- A Dream Collaboration for Neuroscientists and Artists — Neuroscience News
- Dreams become reality through artistic creations — NR Times
Related Research
This exhibition was directly connected to the Living in a Dream research project, which investigated body and self experience during waking and dreaming states in people with depersonalisation. The findings were published in Nature Scientific Reports:
Event Details
- Dates: 31st March – 1st April 2023
- Venue: Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
- Part of: Cambridge Festival 2023
- Organiser: Matt Gwyther, in collaboration with Dr Jane Aspell's Self & Body Lab