How to Have a Flying Dream

A new immersive installation by interdisciplinary artist Nancy Dewhurst opens at Gallery One’s Art Vault on Friday, May 15th from 5 to 7 p.m.

How to Have a Flying Dream is a speculative investigation into the phenomenon of having a dream in which one is flying – a type of lucid dream. At the heart of the installation is Nancy’s attempt to experience a flying dream through research and practice, treating the body and psyche as both subject and site for research. She draws inspiration from birds and insects, literature, and her lived and dreamt experiences, expressing these through bronze charms, dream journaling, immersive imagery, and rehearsals of flight.

“Lucid dreaming can be likened to an embodied, analog virtual reality,” said Nancy Dewhurst. “The paradox of control and surrender offers opportunities to role-play alternate realities. It becomes a metaphor for broader negotiations of autonomy and desire within the waking world.”

The installation transforms the Art Vault into an archive of Dewhurst’s investigations and performances. Elements include a digitized 16mm film projected onto the ceiling, audio narration, and a series of bronze charms. Visitors are invited to engage perceptually to locate the vault code – an initial step in practicing shifts in awareness, a core discipline of dream training.

While the installation adopts a playful tone, it engages complex questions around desire, the construction of alternate realities, the shifting relationship between conscious and unconscious selves, and agency.

The installation will be on view through July 7th. It is free and open to the public during Gallery One’s open hours and by appointment (email galleryone@cabq.gov). Gallery One is open May 22nd through July 2nd 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Gallery One is located on the first floor of City Hall at 1 Civic Plaza NW.