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Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness

A floating dress made with prescriptions for sleep medication
Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
Dreaming of Sleep, 2015
Installation view
Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2019
Image by Murray Art Museum Albury

Curated by Mark Feary, Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness assembled and commissioned works by a selection of contemporary Australian and international artists that explored the realm of sleep and its representation in art.

From the grand foyer entry to the main gallery upstairs, visitors were able to view installations, video work, drawing, painting, and sculpture that explored ideas of the subconscious, delirium and altered states; that examined the way the sleeping figure was represented in contemporary art; and that questioned the impact of work and economic pressures on relaxation.
Zzzzz was presented in a theatrical and immersive environment, as if one had walked into a series of darkened bedrooms, yet no one appeared to be asleep.

Rather than viewing sleep as a moment of fatigue, weakness or vulnerability, this collection of works reflected on the relationship between our physical being, and our mental processes, consciousness and subconscious.

At times serene and tender, and at others deeply disturbing, this exhibition cast a lens on how artists attempted to make sense of the process of dreaming, its mysteries, its potentialities, and its vital function in helping us form memories and make sense of the world.

Artists included:
Andy Warhol (USA)
Chicks on Speed (Australia/Spain)
Lee Hadwin (UK)
Mabel Juli (Australia)
Barbora Kleinhamplová & Tereza Stejskalová (Czech Republic)
Kate Mitchell (Australia)
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen (USA)
The Telepathy Project (Australia)
Javier Téllez (Venezuela/USA)
Ronnie van Hout (New Zealand / Australia)

This exhibition had been developed by Gertrude Contemporary in partnership with Murray Art Museum Albury and the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

A dark room with tables covered in different cloths and sculptures, a wall of artworks, a projected video at the back and an illuminated multicoloured bed
Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness

Murray Art Museum Albury, 2019
Image by Murray Art Museum Albury

A black and white video still of a man looking at himself in the reflection of a round mirror held by another man in a top hat
Javier Téllez

Caligari und der Schlafwandler (Caligari and the Sleepwalker), 2008
Video still
Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich

A black room with a bed in the centre with a colourful projection over the bed spread
Chicks on Speed

Sleep Symphony, 2015
Mixed media installation
Zzzzz: Sleep, Somnambulism, Madness, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2019
Image by Murray Art Museum Albury

An artwork of a white crescent moon on a mountain with a black background
Mabel Juli

Garnkiny Ngarranggarni (Moon Dreaming), 2016
Natural ochre and pigments on canvas
Image courtesy of the artist and Warmun Art Centre, Kununurra, Western Australia

Exhibitions