Deep Dream Superstructure, 2025 (before student interventions). Curated by Tak Pham at Alberta University of the Arts. Supported by Calgary Arts Development and the Illingworth Kerr Gallery.
Deep Dream Superstructure is a collaborative sculpture providing the architecture for collective dreaming – literally and metaphorically. Designed in response to Faces & Places, this perilous tower of A-frame houses pays tribute to the DIY ethos of domestic art-spaces in Calgary/Mohkinstsis. The foundation of the sculpture is a double bed, offering a place to sit, lay, read, draw, daydream, or cat-nap. This is the locus for deep dreaming, allowing the artwork to shift and transform continually over the course of the exhibition.
Photos by Caitlind Brown
Every week, a rotating cast of student and alumni artists transformed some aspect of the installation through a nap-inspired collaborative intervention altering the sculpture. The accumulation of their contributions became an exquisite corpse, a communal collage, or a game of telephone, reflecting different ways of navigating between agency (individuality) and collaboration (collectivity).
At the summary of the project, the collaborative transformed Deep Dream Superstructure stood as a monument to the cycles of yearning, opportunism, mischief, struggle, change, and dreaming that reflect the impetus of our local underground art community.
Collaborators
(in chronological order):
Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett
Lu Bassett
Nicole Mary
Mell Edwards
Ling Ho
Sasha Terway & Cole Johnson
Phoenix Ning & Yilu Xing
Meghana Iyer
Matthew Gil
Dawn Brass & Carter Orcherton
Student photographer: Tao Saunders
Thanks to Tak, Ann, Kaylee, May, Nicole, Alana, Megan, Mitch, Tao, Monica, Keith, and all the artists contributing to the piece. Thanks to The Palomino for hosting our Superstructure Wrap Party!
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Photos by Katy Whitt Photography
Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett
Lead Artists
“We created the foundation for the collaboration based on our own dreams. We built the superstructure (with help from Ann Thrale), selected student and alumni artists to contribute, and guided a Deep Dream Workshop. We set the stage for dreaming, and now we get to watch as those dreams unfold…”
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Photos by Tao Saunders
Lu Bassett
Final Year AUArts Student
“When I napped in the structure I couldn’t help thinking of everyone who came before me, and everyone who would come after – and so I decided to capture that feeling – I installed a projection of two-hundred dreams to live and dance and play and dream themselves within the Deep Dream Superstructure.”
Material: light
See more of Lu Bassett’s work here.
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Photos by Tao Saunders
Nicole Mary
AUArts Alumni 2020
“For my contribution, I arm-knitted and dyed a sculpture based on a dream I had of the green man/fool archetype. Using a combination of repetitive and playful processes, I spent three days in the space adding to my pre-made piece. I kept the ends of my sculpture loose and left colourful balls of yarn around the superstructure so that these objects had the possibility of being moved around or used during the duration of the exhibition.”
Material: fibre
See more of Nicole Mary’s work here.
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Photos by Caitlind Brown & Mell Edwards
Mell Edwards
AUArts MFA Alumni 2025
“I wanted to bring the stars in the night sky inside. While most people spend night time sleeping, I’m usually awake, working, thought I always stop to look outside and search for stars. And if I am outside, I spend a lot of time searching the sky. I hand sewed small pockets to put my lights in and they swing from cotton thread, so when you lie in the bed, its like you’re looking up at night time stars. They will eventually burn out, much like real stars.”
Material: fibre, light.
See more of Mell Edwards’s work here.
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Photos by Caitlind Brown
Ling Ho
Final Year AUArts Graduate Student
“These days, dreams feel like a shifting space between clarity and blur, something both near and far. Through light, shadow, and soft movement within a translucent form, I think about the comfort of imagined distant places seen through windows, and how there will always be somewhere far to explore.”
Material: ceramic, fibre, light.
See more of Ling Ho’s work here.
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Photos by Tao Saunders
Sasha Terway & Cole Johnson
AUArts Alumni 2025 & Final Year Student
“What do you know about portals? Scientists Cole Johnson and Sasha Terway have spent the latter half of four years researching this very topic and have found a weak point in spacetime that has been widely overlooked in the field: dreams. When the brain enters its dream REM cycle, the fabric of reality weakens just enough to create the right conditions for time travel. Cole and Sasha have discovered, with the right equipment, that one can puncture a hole through the fabric of reality and jump a small distance into the future. And what is this equipment, you ask? A jump rope, but not just any jump rope, a prototype that can tap into the dreamer’s cosmic imagisphere, controlling time itself, each hop bringing the world another inch into the future, and a circular hopscotch rig to hold the fabric of space in place while time is spinning out of control. However, these theories were just ideas of dreamers, not applied to the real world of science. So on November 7th at 5:45pm Cole and Sasha sought to put their rhythmic motions of jumprope and hopscotch to the test accompanied by their test subjects rem cycle (Bazooka) they would jump and hop for 15 minutes straight (any longer could do irreparable damage to the space time continuum without proper testing), to jump forwards in time 2 months 24 days and 7 hours to the new year 2026.”
Material: performance, scientific equipment, and glitter
See more of Sasha Terway’s work here.
See more of Cole Johnson’s work here.
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Photos by Caitlind Brown
Phoenix Ning & Yilu Xing
Final Year AUArts Student & AUArts Alumni 2020
“We started with a simple act: changing the bedding in the gallery. This bed invites visitors to lie down, rest, or reflect, and over time we noticed it could become worn or dirty. Replacing the sheets became a way for us to think about care — care for the space, care for others, and care in everyday life. Through the repeated, almost ritualistic act of changing the bedding, we explored the labour involved in maintaining both private and shared spaces, the comfort and hygiene it provides, and the quiet responsibility we carry toward those who interact with it. At the same time, we reflected on how these small, everyday gestures carry meaning, shaping how people experience and connect with spaces and one another.”
Materials: performance, video documentation, bedding
See more of Phoenix Ning’s work here.
See more of Yilu Xing’s work here.
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Photos by Caitlind Brown
Meghana Iyer
AUArts Alumni 2025
“Upon viewing Deep Dream Superstructure, I was flooded with thoughts about how the act of sleeping, or rather the lack of it, is a vulnerable action. How the time we spend in our beds can evoke significant thoughts and feelings we individually go through, yet this sculpture offered a site where collective feelings are shared.
I wanted to contribute to the sculpture by installing domestic window panels with words and poems written with paint markers to articulate these ideas. Three window panels were installed in various spots of the sculpture. The first panel is suspended in front of the bed, expanding the sculpture outwards into the gallery. Poems appear on both sides of the glass, offering layered interpretations depending on whether the viewer is lying on the bed or standing before it. The second panel is placed above the bed, where viewers can lie down and read the words Intimate Impermanence above them. The third panel is placed on the left side of the sculpture, where another poem can be seen written through the dust. Through interaction with these panels and the installation, the act of looking through the windows showcases shared introspection.”
Materials: windows, marker, dust
See more of Meghana Iyers’s work here.
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Photos by Caitlind Brown
Matthew Gil
Final Year AUArts Student
“For my intervention, I painted dream-like vessels with acrylics on paper. I’ve been pondering the relationships between my ceramics and paintings and trying to reconcile the conflict that arises from translation. In my dreams, I saw swirls of blue and yellow, and the scrawling contours of winged vessels within the paint. What emerged from the painting process are seven vessels that embody painterly gestures, colour, harmony, and new possibilities.”
Materials: mistints, paper
See more of Matthew Gil’s work here.
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Photos by Tao Saunders and Caitlind Brown
Dawn Brass & Carter Orcherton
Final and 3rd Year AUArts Students
“We wanted to gamify the sculpture and do something that is not usually done in a gallery space. We armed the audience with sticky hands and streamers to throw onto the structure from within the bed. All participants were entered into a raffle to win a mystery gift. We turned the dream structure into an interactive space where the audience creates the art rather than just observes it.”
Materials: streamers, sticky hands
Before & After
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Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett 