Have you ever wonder what you look like when you sleep?  How about what your brain and body are doing while you're unconscious?  Ever imagine that you could produce artwork while you are sleeping?

Research is currently being conducted by Master of Biological Arts student, Lisa Carrie Goldberg in conjunction with SymbioticA, the art-science laboratory, and the Sleep Research Facility, through the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia.

Unlike a traditional scientific experiment, this research is not attempting to solve a problem or cure a health issue but can be considered as a method for creating artwork.

The intended outcome of these studies is the production of unique works of art, called somnolence structurings, which are derived from electrical data collected by the changing body positions of sleepers in the laboratory.

Goldberg, an artist originally from Canada, enrolled at UWA to undertake a degree with SymbioticA - Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts.

She regards her experiments as "research with an artistic endeavour" and describes it as, "... a creative exercise both for the artist and for the participants involved."

By participating in one of these experiments, volunteers are given access to the sleep laboratory along with the rare opportunity to have a visual recording of what they look like when they are asleep, a perspective few have seen.

The text, audio, and visual documentation collected from these sleep studies will be exhibited in a display open to the public at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art in December 2010.

To follow the project and to find out further information, visit the project's blog.

Media references

Lisa Carrie Goldberg  (+61 8)  6488 7116
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716