trauma, dreams escape. if you struggle to sleep, following a traumatic experience, you are not alone.

Nearly all of those who survive trauma experience some form of sleep disorder, such as insomnia. But for about half of the three-quarters of people, it is vivid dreams that prevent them from sleeping deeply and which open the doors of their consciousness to a path of invention.

Trauma has always been a major source for art and dreams are a way for it to escape.

The collective trauma of the pandemic experienced in 2020 has pushed artistic creativity into new territory. Its impact on the common imagination through the dreams, delusions and dreamlike states it has invoked, has opened up a way for us to escape the condition we have been suffering under.

For this Biennial we are investigating the work of artists that have included the narrative sequence formed by these three words - trauma,
dreams and escape – in their works.