The Gothic Dome and the Sculpture Garden

The dream leaves me in a profound state after I discover the existence of a hole under my sheets, where there is a giant gothic dome. I am asked to draw it as precisely as possible, with all its tracery.

An aristocratic woman guides me. She shows me how to do it, points out the way, and the line to follow is clear. I draw it just as it is: a dome with organic shapes that reminds me of a different drawing I made a long time ago of Nôtre-Dame, which looks like an insect or a sort of inverted artichoke. Even so, it is a space of light.

The second dream begins when I can remember the Fine Arts building, an urban and social meeting centre. I walk with a curator at night. The building is surrounded by monuments, sculptures arranged as a geometric belt that makes it

a garden of sculptures, not of plants. They are perfectly organized in a rectangle, and people stroll amidst them. Something makes me suspect that it is a major urban centre.

The façades and all the monuments surrounding the building were commissioned to a single artist. The stone sculptures have renaissance details. I observe the details of the drawing and the artist’s meticulous approach, in awe.

It is a major commission, and I think he mastered it. I am surprised that it was given to a Mexican and not a British artist. As I wander around the museum grounds, it becomes clear to me that it is a popular destination for young people to socialize.

Out of nowhere, I am told about another artist, the one who makes his art with futuristic images. At that moment, I refuse to see his work, because I fear to feel overwhelmed by a completely different concept.

In the third part of the dream, it is still nighttime, and a big group of young people is sitting outside the same museum along the staircase, in between the sculptures. The atmosphere is festive with a bohemian feel. It is experiences like these, living in overcharged nights, that naturally expands an individual’s limits.

Among the streetlights, silhouettes appear out of the shadows, when [person A] appears less than a metre away. He hasn’t seen me since the early 1990s. It seems like he tries to avoid me and conceals his surprise.

Now, between the mundane atmosphere and the bohemian ambience, I spot [person B]. In my dream, she is an artist whose work is focused on abstract, organic forms of the body and human material. The genesis of her art is in space: in between two life-sized tongues, structurally assembled in the shape of a cross and fastened together right in the middle. Influenced by the disquieting concept of “formlessness” or Georges Bataille.

Certain aspects of the city remind me of Santiago, but it is different in my dream, or perhaps I feel like a foreigner. A two- way avenue runs in front of the museum. It is late now and time to go. In the end, the events of the night tend to expand even more, especially as it is a social centre of the city. The way back home is a party.

People lying on the ground not in a sign of decadence, they are construction workers and now they deserve to have their own life after work. It is more a sign of free spirits capable of expressing themselves, all of this reflects a more egalitarian society. The street party irradiates a pleasant feeling. The slightly drunk men look calm.

I completely forgot that [person A] was there, and I think it is mutual. He is surprised though, when I run into him again.

Night 101