Amy Hardie’s THE EDGE OF DREAMING documentary is centerpiece of annual Rubin Museum Brainwave festival
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
February 7 – April 20, $15-$30
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org
The Rubin Museum’s fourth annual Brainwave lineup is another compelling collection of events featuring unusual and eclectic pairings of artists with scientists, this year focusing on dreams and prophecy. The centerpiece of the festival is the U.S. theatrical premiere of Amy Hardie’s documentary THE EDGE OF DREAMING, which will screen at the Rubin February 16-26; if you attend one of the showings ($12), you are eligible to participate in a dream workshop being led by Hardie the following day ($75) in which the nature of storytelling is explored in dreams and the changing world of cinema. The Brainwave discussions begin February 7 when punk-rock icon and spoken-word poet and comedian Henry Rollins is joined by neuroscientist David Eagleman for “The Assassin of My Dreams,” followed February 11 by composer Meredith Monk teaming with nueropsychologist John Antrobus for “Secrets of a Dream Diary.” Among the other intriguing programs, in which things threaten to get deeply personal and revelatory, are author Nathan Englander and neuroscientist Amir Raz pontificating on “Bedtime Hypnotism” February 27, novelist Amy Tan and dream researcher Deirdre Barrett talking about “Creativity in the Dreaming Brain” March 5, author and lawyer Scott Turow and Michael Gazzaniga of the Sage Center for the Study of Mind delving into “The Murderous Mind,” actress Debra Winger and psychiatry professor Robert Stickgold of the Center for Sleep and Cognition asking, “Do Dreams Come True?” March 20, and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg and cognitive scientist Lawrence Barsalou getting into “The Buddhist Dreamer” April 13. In addition, Cornell’s Dr. Edward Nersessian will guide a “Dream-over” March 5-6, a twelve-hour event beginning at 9:15 in the evening in which participants (eighteen and over only, $55) will sleep in the galleries under a specially selected work of art; registrants must fill out an online Dreamlife Questionnaire between February 1 and 15 to qualify.