dREM #1 - Robert Rich: Somnium

dREM is a curatorial project by Allegra Shorto to explore and expand the relationship between art and dream. Each episode is a soundscape lasting the duration of an REM sleep cycle, roughly 90 minutes, to be slept through. Artists are invited to fill this time as they imagine it. The sounds may be incorporated into the narrative of the dream, alter its content or partially wake listeners, making them aware that they are dreaming. Mimicking the cyclical stages of the sleeping mind, the resulting soundscapes flit from silence to resounding repetition, perhaps causing dream ripples. Participants include artists Gregory Barsamian, Lee Berwick, Delia Gonzalez, Dr Keith Hearne, Kurt Hentschlager, Jacob Kierkegaard, Robert Rich and Chu-Li Shewring.

In this episode: Robert Rich has been releasing and performing since the early 1980's and has helped pioneer multiple strands in experimental electronica and old-school ambient - including spacemusic, ethno-ambient, dark ambient and psychedelic drones. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area. In 2001 Rich released the 7 hour DVD Somnium, a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience, possibly the longest continuous piece of music ever released at the time.