In 2021, Toronto-based artist Emily DiCarlo launched a durational performance piece in collaboration with nine \u201cdream-participants,\u201d Jacqui Arntfield, Ellen Bleiwas, Simon Fuh, chris mendoza, Dana Prieto, Matt Nish-Lapidus, Mehrnaz Rohbakhsh, and duo St Marie Walker (Denise St Marie and Timothy Walker). The performance started with a symbolic protest in Queen\u2019s Park, Toronto, the site of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Known for its political significance, the park was occupied by the group of artists to engage in an act of (un)rest. Over the following months, they participated in a series of five performances led by Fluxus-inspired prompts formulated by DiCarlo. The prompts encouraged them to refuse, rest, wander, attend, and extend to the more-than-human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, DiCarlo compiled the documentation of the project into a publication titled we imitate sleep to dream of dissent<\/em>. Designed meticulously, the publication resembles a folder holding five distinct pamphlets, each carrying the participants\u2019 field notes transcribed as poetry, performance scores, reflections, multisensorial descriptions, and visual documentation. When requested to document a nap, for instance, mendoza reported finding refuge by the shoreline, a gesture influenced by their study of water flows. Rohbakhsh, in turn, documented her nap on a fallen log by exploring the contrasting significance of dreams in Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an email sent to the group in January 2022, St Marie contemplates that \u201cthere is a desire to be less engaged with a capitalist system that wants all our mental energy and life.\u201d Through personal reflections and shared experiences, the participants explored slowness as a praxis. Their journey became intertwined with personal occurrences such as motherhood and grief, perhaps allowing them further introspection along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drawing from fifteen years of research into the concept of time, DiCarlo\u2019s introduction contextualizes the project within a broader history of resistance. She references the encampments organized by anti-war protesters in Washington, DC, in May 1971, an action heavily repressed by the US administration. More recently, in China, the \u201clying flat\u201d movement was censored for delivering an open critique of the proliferation of 72-hour workweeks imposed by corporations. The project is also informed by the work of Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, which advocates for rest as a form of racial and social justice. By reclaiming the act of rest, Hersey\u2019s collective napping experiences challenge the historical exploitation of Black communities in order to foster a sense of community healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of DiCarlo\u2019s publication is a field guide that assembles the five prompts along with additional references. The guide entails the performance\u2019s ongoing nature and its potential as \u201ca map for future self-practice.\u201d we imitate sleep to dream of dissent<\/em> is \u201can open-ended invitation to dream\u201d in an increasingly alienated world.<\/p>\n![\"Emily-Dicarlo\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/112_CR_Dubeau-Chicoine_WeSleep_Sprd_05_O_594_pPaulWeeks-scaled.jpg\")
we imitate sleep to dream of dissent<\/em>, interior pages, 2023.
Photo: Paul Weeks, courtesy of the artist & Studio Castrodale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Emily-Dicarlo\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/112_CR_Dubeau-Chicoine_WeSleep_Sprd_11_O_618_pPaulWeeks-scaled.jpg\")
we imitate sleep to dream of dissent<\/em>, interior pages, 2023.
Photo: Paul Weeks, courtesy of the artist & Studio Castrodale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n