Whether you want to explore the dark reaches of your psyche or are simply a fan of Sigmund Freud, Kyiv's latest museum may be the place for you. Located in a quite yard in Pechersk area, the Dream Museum takes an unconventional look at the workings of the inner mind.
The
museum’s founders – professional psychoanalyst Tetyana Tsvelodub
and Viktoria
Danelyan, head of the Ukrainian Psychoanalysis Association –
were inspired by
the well-known Freud museum in St. Petersburg, which consists of
different live
installations dedicated to famed researcher. But they wanted to
make the site
more than just a dry series of hall with exhibits, leaning
instead toward a
place of informal communication and learning, giving people a
place to share
their interest in psychoanalysis.
The themes
of the expositions vary by season: Autumn is about nightmares,
Winter lectures
will be dedicated to the questions of identity. “In spring we
want to discuss
erotic dreams and talk about their nature without any
complexes,” Tsvelodub
adds. “And here we want everybody to understand their alter
ego.”
Many people
take the idea of psychoanalysis with a grain of salt. Tsvelodub
said in Soviet
times works by Freud were almost forbidden. But nowadays the
development of the
theory and the practice of psychoanalysis is getting more
popular. “There’s no
crime in psychoanalysis, it tries to harmonize the inner and
outer (parts) of
one’s psyche,” Tsvelodub adds.
The easiest
way to influence the subconscious is by learning to explore
dreams and
communication. That’s why the Dream Museum will host lectures
dedicated to
outstanding scientists like Carl Gustav Jung or Jacques Lacan.
The organizers
also plan to hold movie clubs and theater performances.
Those who
want to change their habits and way of life may try free
association technique
Dixit. This French game based on painted cards so when the
players are shown
the cards they’re free to talk everything that comes to mind.
“Such event helps
people to understand some factors that determine their behavior
and emotions,”
Tsvelodub said. The game usually takes place on weekend (the
admission fee is
Hr 30).
The graduates
from the International institute of depth psychology, Danelyan
and Tsvelodub
also set up psychoanalytic room for clients who want to try
psychoanalysis as
medical treatment.
Their first
Nightmare Art exhibition tries to make a little way for
explaining the nature of
dreams. It will be available till the end of November. The day
Kyiv Post
visited some 15 people were waiting for an excursion.
Excursion
guide Yaryna Grusha handed out flashlights and took the group
into a dark room
with paintings and installations made by young Ukrainian artists
Kateryna
Balytska, Tetyana Galochkina and Anna Vorozhbyt. In the middle
of the room
there was a screen where Gennadiy Chernega’s video-installation
“Deep sleep”
was being shown.
At the end
of the 30-minute excursion the guide turned on the light. All
the visitors were
rather excited. “As for me it was interesting because it was
unusual
exhibition,” Kateryna Melnyk, one of the visitors said. “Besides
it I like
their art house approach, and the interior is extremely nice,”
Melnyk
said.
Infobox
Dream Museum
55
Chigorina St.
531- 9727
Nightmare Art
exhibition – Sat, Sun 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Admission
fee Hr 50
