Dream work as a tool for creative process

Abstract

Humans sleep a third of their lives. However, the brain is not "off" but operates in a different way, but equally actively. The purpose of this study was to find ways of working for artists in which the sleeping time would not be wasted but would be included in the creative process. Dreams have been used as a part of art process in art history and in contemporary art and this study introduces artists who have been characterized by dreaming such as Salvador Dali, Zdzislaw Beksiński and Epic Dewfall and presents their working methods with dreams. That cannot be done without exploring the dream theories by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud had an impact on Surrealists and Carl Jung´s theory is still used in dream coaching for artists today. Modern day findings are explored in this thesis and main-focus is in the newest area of sleep research: lucid dreaming. The data for this thesis is from various sources such as research articles, interviews, books and internet articles. Dreaming can be useful tool for creative work in various ways, especially if the techniques of lucid dreaming are learned.