The subconscious as catalyst for Surrealist and avant-garde practices across decades and continents

Marking the 100th anniversary of the First Manifesto of Surrealism and the founding of the Bureau of Surrealist Research in Paris in 1924, Archive of Dreams is dedicated to the surrealist movement as well as the networks it engendered and the artistic stimuli it provided in the 20th century. The idea was for the Bureau to collect dream testimonies in whatever form, not only to preserve and analyse them but also to give active expression to them in artistic processes. The publication shows how the practices of the avant-gardes blurred the boundaries between dream and reality, between the traditional, passive notion of the archive and the idea of active, innovative artistic experiment--and thus ultimately also between the past, the present and possible futures. Works and documents made before, during and after World War II shed light on the methods of international artists and the global network they were involved in. They are complemented by diverse reflections on global protest movements and the traumas of war, thus connecting to everyday experiences in a Europe beset by warfare.