Diana Copperwhite | Michael Kalmbach | Hiraki Sawa: The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.
Opening Reception Thursday 19 January at 7.30pm • Curated by Jacqui McIntosh
The exhibition will be officially opened by Patrick T. Murphy, RHA Gallery
The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream brings together three artists whose works explore the interplay between the real, remembered and fantastical. Through film (Hiraki Sawa), painting (Diana Copperwhite), watercolour and sculpture (Michael Kalmbach), the exhibition presents dreamlike worlds, free from the limits of everyday reality.
In these weightless, suspended worlds there is a dissolution of boundaries, both physical and moral. The certainties of waking life – of time, space and self – are eroded and made unstable by the constant flux and reconfiguration of elements within the unconscious dream state.
The exhibition takes its title from a quote by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges. Borges’ complex philosophical short stories are often characterised by magical, labyrinthine themes and the intrusion of the dream world within the everyday. Like Freud, Borges viewed dreams as a direct connection to the unconscious mind. Whilst Freud asserted that the analysis of recurrent symbols and archetypes within dreams brings understanding to the nature of the human psyche, Borges believed that dreams by their very nature are resistant to definite analysis. Dreams instead are enigmatic and open to infinite interpretation. In his writing Borges looks beyond reason for explanation – to magic, myth, religion and philosophy.
Tuesday 11:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 11:00 - 16:00
Thursday 11:00 - 16:00
Friday 11:00 - 16:00
Saturday 11:00 - 16:00