Novosibirsk, July 2021, Iain Zabolotny

The two-day workshop united 15 people that were in no way artists, but rather activists or local queer community members. The workshops included collectively building the dream machine, dreammachinery sessions, freewriting and crafting/drawing/diy sessions.

The participants were quite excited to try out the dream machine methodology and one of them even took the dream machine home after the workshop, while others received the instructions on how to build one themselves upon their request. The artefacts that the participants created were also highly appreciated by other participants and many were taken home by someone else and are cherished to this day.

All the photos are taken by Marusia Murasheva, all the participans and authors preferred to stay anonymous.

Below are a few of scanned texts and a number of photographs of the objects created during the workshop. The texts focus heavily on the images and feelings the participants had during the Dream Machine experience, working with comforting topics like dreams, childhood memories, real or imaginary safer spaces and escaping the real world.

One of the works explicitly with queerness as otherness, a text on the monster parade that was later transformed into an object too. The monster pride reappropriates the demonization of queerness through celebrating a wide variety of cute beasts’ existence and has a powerful manifesto to accompany it. It is perfectly imperfect and unfinished with so much promise, just what being queer sometimes feels like.

Some of the pieces from the second day work with more recognizable gay pride-related imagery. Gayropa’s bright colors paint a promised land that is supposed to be amazing for queers.

The yarn piece that features two female chickens with their baby chicks in a nest integrates queerness into childish kindergarten-style piece and creates an alternative childhood space beyond heteronormative understanding of family.