At the Edges of Sleep: Moving Images and Somnolent Spectators

An ebook about sleep is available for free open access. It explores sleep as a subject matter in film and moving image art, and as a state to induce in the audience. It highlights the work of Thai filmmaker and artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who has explored sleep systematically throughout his career, and examines the affinity between cinema, spectatorship, and sleep.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 23 November 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

Many recent works of contemporary art, performance, and film have brought sleep out of the shadows and into the public eye. At the Edges of Sleep explores sleep in film and moving image art as both a subject matter to be explored onscreen and a state to be induced in the audience. Far from being a passive state, sleep opens up new possibilities for existence, relationships, and connections to the past. It can be seen as a positive force that expands our understanding of reception beyond the binary of concentration and distraction.

Thai filmmaker and artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul has been a consistent explorer of sleep throughout his career. In his work, Jean Ma brings together a diverse range of interlocutors, from Freud to Proust, George Méliès to Tsai Ming-liang, Weegee to Warhol, to reimagine moving images through the lens of sleep. Ma uncovers an affinity between cinema, spectatorship, and sleep that dates back to the early days of filmmaking and sheds light on the changing cultural meanings of sleep in the present moment.

Through her analysis, Ma demonstrates how sleep can be used as a tool for storytelling, creating immersive and dreamlike experiences that challenge our perceptions of reality. She also explores the ways in which sleep can be used to explore themes of memory, trauma, and the unconscious. By bringing together a wide range of perspectives and artistic approaches, At the Edges of Sleep offers a fresh and insightful perspective on sleep and its role in contemporary culture.

Weight: 499g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520384514