Video/Film
Video installation, single-channel video, 6 loungers, polyurethane, acrylic, wood, sub-woofers, shag carpet; music by Oneohtrix Point Never and James Ferraro
Jon Rafman’s Dream Journal 2016-2017 is a video installation that explores the effects of technology and information overload on the contemporary psyche. The project initially arose from the artist’s daily practice of animating his dreams using hobbyist 3D software. In Dream Journal, two young female protagonists – one of them an archetypical millennial, the other a kid-warrior – embark upon a Dantean journey through a succession of absurd dystopian landscapes. The film’s fractured storyline weaves together deep-web imagery with classical epic tropes and repressed libidinal fantasies to create a nightmarish vision of an internet addict’s unconscious. Experimental electronic musicians Oneohtrix Point Never and James Ferraro composed the soundtrack. The video installation is completed with shag carpet and anthropomorphized sculptural seating. Rafman is recognized for his interdisciplinary practice that spans photography, sculpture, video, virtual reality, and installation. His work explores the impact of technology on contemporary consciousness, incorporating the rich vocabulary of online worlds to create poetic narratives that critically engage with the present.
