The Lucid Dreaming scenario was developed by FoAm and Time's Up in June 2014. lucid_dreaming_a_storyworld These are some notes on implementations of the scenario for exhibitions.

The lucid dreaming scenario is, as one would expect, a dreamy, fantasy-filled scenario filled with metaphorical beings, strange concepts and mechanistic wonderfulness. In some sense, a suitably ridiculous future. However, as we wanted to have a scenario that is easily understood and deals more with the everyday aspects, we have de-metaphored the scenario for this implementation.

STORY / Character – Framing

environmental living conditions radically changed. The outside air is bad – not immediately toxic, but some people / inhabitants of the peninsula need special gear and treatment after exposure.

Medical treatment is easy and common.

There are some social entities who try to re-establish former living conditions. (not only the dragonflies should be able to provide “liveable” conditions).

The space we find is a sleeping / resting space. A hotel room in Hainburg, perhaps a side room in some one else's space in Cluj. There should be:

  • A bathroom with a closed door (must not be a functional bathroom, just a door that could be a bathroom).
  • A window, or a fake window that we can block. There should be no other external light sources.
  • A double bed with some bedside tables.
  • A desk or table.
  • An entrance in which a temporary simple airlock can be created.
  • A large screen – like the TV in a hotel room
  • A wall space for the large plant based filtration system.

ATMOSPHERE in general

  • Room lights are deactivated, light is coming from the window(s), equipment, grow lights for the plant system.
  • Window as a light source (see descriptions / effects of it below)
  • Television has messed up signal, digital nastiness, showing some kind of exploration group or something else, but unintelligible, hardly recognisable. The screen helps light the room.
  • Light sources within the Plant-Filter-System (described below)
  • shower The shower door is looked. Behind it we hear the shower running, someone cleaning themselves with a complex system. High pressure air, water sprays, maybe sparking voltages.
    • A computer voice commands the person what to do next, then we hear it.
  • window / representing the “outside-world” Source of eery/dominant noises described below
  • optional
    • A voice log that is playing on headphones, as if the character had been following someone else’s discoveries. Then overlaid with their own.
    • Through the bathroom door we hear Radio voices from colleagues, perhaps in other rooms or other spaces, talking about what they have been doing, finding, etc. This could be one sided as per Tom Flitter, telephone style, or two sided. Two sided gives us more information, one sided allows more fantasy from the visitor.


  • The windows are sealed over with milky plastic and gaffa tape, repaired in several places. A filter system is mounted in the window, cleaning air that is drawn into the room. A deep red twilight glow comes through the window pane, diffused by the plastic. There is sound from outside: animals like dogs and crows, plus a wide range of mechanical sounds. It does not seem too inviting. Constant dripping, or sounds of distant machines moving , general “movement” - like slow trains passing, something moving along railway-tracks in general, dull distant hammering,…) The sound of passing Dragon Flies.
  • We could add some fake windows. A frame, with plastic taped over it, protruding around a real window or held against the wall directly. Use the “covered” window as the light source - twilight, if “easy” to implement, shadows, or light pulsing. Possible shadow of the window frame.
  • Idea: how bright can a TV screen be? Then we could make the frame and have occasional passing birds, dragonflies, etc.

two ideas about plants

  • a Jungle of green, leafy plants, part of the built in air cleaning and regeneration system. It could be like the Sprawl floor of a high rise from Neuromancer / Count Zero, lots of hydroponics; or more earthy with classical houseplants. Lit by special lights, either real grow lights or the more aesthetic green-yellow that makes them look better. some sort of a “climbing crag of single plant-pots” which are interconnected via cables, strings & ropes, bellows between, partly liqhid filled..
  • Single, lone, plant in a box, specially protected, a rare creature. Something to be protected and looked after in this harsh world.A filter system, air bubbled through an algae based filtration system, through plants somehow. A large version, cleaning the internal air, possibly with air input from outside.

On a table, a mobile breathing apparatus. Some display shows that it has been used 6 hours today and records some poisons and the quantities that may have been allowed through the filter. Tendency towards a „steampunk“ styled Jules Verne meets gaffa tape, Self repaired, but based on „commercial“ solutions. (mechanical orchestra) Shoulder straps showing how it is worn. A breathing bellows mounted on the side, pumping air. A small screen, displaying some data, but also analogue dials showing some relevant information. A small Algae based filter system. Mask possibly like the pilot's mask.


more character-concentrated) There are old tools, accumulated from various places. These might be arranged on the backpack with the filter in it, or on a utility belt or collection of pockets. Some high tech pieces, but also an old hammer, a magnifying glass. Some artefacts from the outside should be in the room. Some piece of equipment, caked in red dust, cleaned. A logbook of recent finds, rough descriptions, place, date, time, possible other pieces buried in the dirt. A Box of special things: seeds, book about photosynthesis, references to or images of the Laura Silva book


There is some medical gear in the room. It seems that this gear is standard and had been extensively used by our character(s), keeping them alive. Drip bottles of various liquids, special labels. Perhaps the manufacturer is General Infection Negation, GIN. Health maintenance is a word that is seen. On the bed there are butterflies for the drips, electrodes and perhaps other medical or semi-medical sensors and actuators. The medical device somehow integrates all these and has two or more differently coloured and labelled drip bottles attached to the top.

Attachment straps and Velcro-based surfaces, like a blood pressure mesurer. But with LEDs mounted something blinking to indicate that no sensors are active. Some kind of signage / warning that the system has been configured for precisely one person, so “sharing systems can lead to irreperable damage” or so.


mostly protective: perhaps overalls, a flight suit, or similar. Ripstop material. Patched and repaired. Some kind of aeronautical badge on it, to indicate that the character is a dragonfly pilot – A dragonfly badge, of course! There are waterproof patches, pockets, clips for tools. Perhaps a large head covering, perhaps just the attachment points for it.


Dreaming technology. Part of the medical equipment are head mounted sensorial transfer units that allow dreams to be shared. The characters here spend a lot of time unconscious, being healed, so their dreams are vivid and confusing. They do not need deep sleep, so their REM phases and the lucid usage of their dream states is generally accepted and applied. The DreamNet 3000 has LEDs and labels for dream states, as well as extra like lucid, networked, shared, recording, playback, etc. There is a simple tiara or other fine, delicate, not too medical brainwave reader.

  • obviously a body, a stain on the sheet, an indentation in a 30mm foam layer showing their shape. Electrodes and other parts are laid out at the correct places on the body shape.

optional – depending on time-availability

  • Newspaper Peninsula News. Maybe headlines are legible, the rest of the text is in messed up nonsense.
  • Pamphlets and zines: smaller texts, invitations, announcements, theories about what has happened, who is responsible, claims of hidden greenhouses.
  • Question: use of another or artificial language. Esperanto, Indonesian? Other writing symbols? Arabic, Tamil? African language and writing? Completely fabricated? Elfish (Tolkein) or Klingon, for instance.
  • optional according to the design / layout of the space available
  • is a type of airlock, also made with industrial plastic. There is a suction fan in there, the street clothes are hung up and dusted off there.

The installation will be in a running hotel. The rooms are a bit smooth and characterless…

In the room - Periscope/Binoculars

In order to give a glimpse into the word the visitor is in, we are making a virtual reality periscope.

Using a cardboard structure (, an iphone will be cased inside. The split image on the iphone screen in conjunction with the lenses inside the structure offer an immersive experience.

The 360 view of the outside of the hotel is a desert-like landscape with an orange sky (with a large and redish sun). The 360 view can be limited to less than 180 if we decide to use a tripod as a base for the structure. The landscape will present buildings that represent the places that the player can explore in the city. A side magnet on the structure serves as a trigger and will allow the visitor to zoom in/out (this has not yet been implemented yet as we don't have the proper magnets). As the visitor gazes a certain location, an indicator will appear so the visitor knows that they can explore it later on.

Outside of the room - DreamExplorer/DreamScape/we haven't decided on a name yet

The visitor goes to the frontdesk to retrieve an iphone. He will also be given a physical map of the several locations.

When the visitor gets to a place he can open the app and scan the target. An augmented object will appear (could be an object or one of the buildings he saw in the room). Double tapping the augmented object on screen will open the virtual scene. We also could just make it that after scanning the target, we go directly to the virtual scene.

A 360 scene will appear with the lucid dreaming world. By tapping on the screen, the visitor can create circular portals that show the dream. In order to distinguish the dream and the reality, we decided to call it the green world and the red world. The green world is the dream world (our current reality), so it has green grass and blue skies. The red world is the lucid dreaming scenarios, so its a desert with the orange sky.



In terms of the art style for the red world, we have some reference images at Basically, its a world with buildings that seem organic and clearly distinct from modern society.