Wellcome Collection – Sleeping & Dreaming

This multi-artform exhibition intermingles artistic and scientific interpretations of sleeping and dreaming, and is a fascinating and informative insight into the world of these phenomena. One exhibit is a ‘sleep test’ where you are asked to look at a computer screen and click the mouse when you see numbers appear. The test works by calculating the time it takes you to respond to the on screen stimulus, 220 milliseconds is considered ‘good’ and 300 milliseconds would be when tired. I achieved 265 milliseconds which on a Friday afternoon, in a darkened room with images of people sleeping, was an achievement. Other exhibits include artists’ interpretations of their dreams and pictures drawn by subjects in Freud’s sleep experiments. This exhibition answers those questions you have always pondered like what are blind people’s dreams like, and do animals dream? I thoroughly recommend a visit.

The exhibition is open 29 November 2007 – 9 March 2008. Admission is free. Visit www.wellcomecollection.org for more information.