Perfect Sleep / Tega Brain (AU), Sam Lavigne (US); photo: Ars Electronica / Magdalena Sick-Leitner

Perfect Sleep

Tega Brain (AU), Sam Lavigne (US)

Perfect Sleep by Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne is an intriguing exploration of sleep and dreaming as potential tools for climate engineering.

The project examines the links between sleep deprivation and climate change, critiquing the extractivist capitalist system that undervalues regeneration and natural limits. The artwork is realized in two parts: a smartphone app and an installation. The Perfect Sleep app encourages users to experiment with their sleep cycles and provides tools to gradually increase sleep duration, available for download from the app store. Meanwhile, the Sleep Study installation features dreamscapes written by Simone Browne, Johanna Hedva, Holly Jean Buck and Sophie Lewis, set to music by Luisa Pereira. These narratives are experienced from custom-made daybeds, inviting participants to immerse themselves in a sensory exploration of rest as a radical counter to environmental and social exploitation. 


Credits
Credits
Artists: Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne  
App development: Sam Lavigne  
Dream incubation texts: Simone Browne, Johanna Hedva, Holly Jean Buck and Sophie Lewis 
Translation: Dr. Anne Pfautsch 
Dreamscape sound composition: Luisa Pereira  
Dreamscape narration: Mukundwa Katuliiba (EN), Elvis Pavic (DE) 
Furniture designed with Jordana Maisie Design Studio  
Perfect Sleep was commissioned by the Museum Sinclair-Haus, Stiftung Kunst und Natur, Bad Homburg.