Workshop at Het Dromenpaleis
After sharing dreams in the first phase of this project, a collective dream diary of Amsterdam is now emerging. In the second part, these dreams are brought to life in a theatrical installation, where not actors, but sets play the main role.
Location The Bookshop
Run time 90 minutes
Genre Perspective
Language Dutch
Workshop at Het Dromenpaleis
What can our nightly dreams tell us about the world we live in? What if they are not only private, but also collective, or even societal? Journalist and writer Charlotte Beradt kept waking up in Nazi Berlin between 1933-1938 from the most horrifying nightmares in which she was hunted down, her name forgotten, or her house suddenly had no walls. One morning she woke up and thought: I can't be the only one who has this kind of dream. She secretly asked around and it turned out that her fellow townspeople were having similar dreams. After the war, Beradt compiled all these dreams into her book “Das Dritte Reich des Traums: a spiritual reflection of terror.
In the first part of Het Dromenpaleis, dreams were shared with each other, based on the conversational method of “social dreaming. Now, in the Amsterdam of 2025, the second part of Het Dromenpaleis creates a collective dream diary of the city.
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The second part of this project involves building a theatrical installation based on Baron van Slingelandt's miniature stage (a 1781 model of the Amsterdam Schouwburg). No actors play in this installation. The sets play the leading role. From the dreams that emerged in the conversations, they build miniature sets; on a playing surface of 2 by 2 meters, our dreams pass by. On a small scale, everything is possible: we can fly, fall, and change, just like in our dreams. Nothing is what it seems: perspectives constantly shift, the story changes direction, monsters appear through the stage floor, trees can start dancing, and a shopping mall can turn into an ocean in an instant. Thus technical ingenuity and Dada-like daring come together and the maquette is elevated to subject matter.
Creators
Zephyr Brüggen
“We are a temporary confluence of theater makers and artists. We believe in the power of collective imagination, and the connection between people through art. In our work, we want to make the audience participant and co-artist, and we look for connections between the tangible and the magical, between reality and fiction, between the personal and the collective.”
The Bookshop
The Bookshop is ITA's new cultural living room on Leidseplein. This compact stage offers a space for innovation, reflection and new perspectives. Here, makers, performers and visitors meet for special programmes, from experiments to intimate performances. The Bookshop is a place for everyone, with a focus on accessibility and openness. It is a gift to the city, made possible by the support of more than 500 donors and various funds and partners.
Credits
concept and direction Zephyr Brüggen
co-direction Niels Kuiters
scenography Han Ruiz Buhrs
scenography miniature sets and graphic design Eos Brüggen
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video Kiriko Mechanicus
dream facilitator Bambí Benkö
dramaturgy Florian Hellwig
advice marketing Dorendel Overmars
