Western medical and scientific studies, oscillating between a psychological or a physiological locus for dreaming, has consistently reinforced a cultural assumption of dreaming as a solitary experience. To reveal dreams is to identify pathologies or instabilities. Yet, among ancient and non-western cultures, dream sharing not only offered a means to highlight a medical condition and its cure, it also served to connect, and to prophesize. For the ancient Greeks, the designated space for this collective activity was the Ascklepion, a ritualized complex of sanctuaries and temples overseen by the god Ascklepious and organized explicitly for fostering dream incubation, therapeutic sleep, prophetic dreaming, and medicinal healing. Is there a broader role for dream sharing in contemporary culture? This evening’s event pairs two historians to speculate on this and other questions on contemporary forms of dreaming. Olympia Panagiotidou will be teleported via skype, for this dialogue.
New York City, NY; NYC