…oneirograph… v.5.spindle
…history… …oneirograph… is a project / concept / mentality, which has been inspired  a few years ago and is being developed throughout the passage of time, via various dreams and life experiences, through which I attempt to find questions, answers and solutions,  in order to understand myself and -hopefully- get evolved as a person and artist. …oneirograph… and its 5 th version, titled "Spindle" is a research I have made during the last months, on various types of Waves (sound, electromagnetic, brainwaves) and the various phases of Sleep. The waves' presentation is being unfolded through the various phases of Sleep (NREM – REM), starting from the moment we fall asleep, until the awakening / dawn. The specific version of the …oneirograph…v.5.spindle, presented at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation (on Wednesday, the 29 th of June 2011), has an even more developed form, with the participation of the Video Artist and Multi-Media Designer Tassos Hatzipanagos (aka Phadom), whose abstract visual illustration and live projections (VJing) "reach the limits of consciousness and the intangible existence of the objects that construct this, which, when it is recorded in our memory for a few fractions of a second, we call dream". Therefore, the parallel course of the waves takes us from the world of the Conscious to the world of the Subconscious and Unconscious, without creating an analytical and tiring atmosphere of scientific and psychological details, but -in the contrary- is being inspired by these and creates a dreamy ambiance. The inspiration, which draws Anna Stereopoulou's dynamic and multidimensional music (Ambient, Minimalism, Electroacoustic, Jazz/Fusion, etc) is being reflected through the melodic motifs and the simple romanticism, the nature elements, which sound within the Piano, but also through their unification with Colour and Light. Thus, the interaction of the Sound Waves with the Projection complete the simple and oneiric set, accompanying the Sound of our Dreams and moving towards the final and main aim of the …oneirograph…; The delight of the audience! The specific event has been presented -in a different form each time- at the following venues: A Dream Within A Dream Within A Dream... [Cabaret Voltaire - Athens - 14.12.07] (Music : Prose : Poetry : Dance) Moving Dreams [Not Performed - Winter 07-08] (Music : Prose : Poetry : Dance) …oneirograph… [Vafopouleio Cultural Centre - Thessaloniki - 04.04.09] (Music : Prose : Poetry : Projection) …oneirograph… [Dais Centre - Athens – 11.11.09] (Music : Prose : Poetry : Light | Colour : Projection) ...oneirograph... v.5.spindle [6 th Portello River Festival - Padova, Italia – 06.08.10] (Music : Light | Colour : Projection) ...oneirograph... v.5.spindle [Michael Cacoyannis Foundation – Athens, Greece – 29.06.11] (Music : Light | Colour : Projection) After midnight... I closed my eyes and spread my fingers. The stars disappeared outside my window and liquid sounds replaced my tears; tears of a smile. The sleep arrived… anna stereopoulou compositions, piano, research electroacoustic music (fusion of: minimal, ambient, fusion jazz) An event of music & light, directed by anna stereopoulou oneirograph = oneiro (dream) + graph (writer; detector) …oneirograph… and its 5 th version, titled "Spindle" is a research I have made during the last months, on various types of Waves (sound, electromagnetic, brainwaves) and the various phases of Sleep. After the long journey of discovering interesting scientific information about the human brain, I reached the point, where I had the need to express all these through music and sound; I had the need to share my dreams in an artistic way. That was the point when I read about the beautiful use of the "Spindle" and various types of brainwaves. Sleep Spindles, also called sigma waves , are a burst of brain activity, which may represent periods where the brain is inhibiting processing to keep the sleeper in a tranquil state; …tranquil, but lucid, too! The metaphor of "Spindle" (eternal course of the Spiral), is the main source of inspiration of the whole project: The force, which derives from our own Mind; from our own Soul. …oneirograph… is a journey beginning from the initial alpha waves , then a slowing of the brain waves with sleep spindles, and finally stages 2 and 3 sleep brain waves in the low theta range. This route is accompanied -frequency-wise- with a parallelism of light (electromagnetic waves) and presented through the course of a sleep. Thus, the  synesthetic atmosphere, in which the event is unfolded, is a presentation of Sleep & Dreams: the dreamer wishes to sleep; falls asleep; passes through the sleep stages/dreams (*NREM-**REM-NREM-etc); awakes. During my research, I also read about the therapeutic use of sleep and the Sleep Therapy that was quite keen even since ancient Greece, taking place in the  Asclepeions, the healing temples of God Asclepius, which were located within nature and near running waters. The sleeper, after he would wake up, he had to tell his dream, which would reveal the treatment of his illness, although many times, people managed to get healed, even during the preparatory ritual (special diet and/or fasting, walks within the temples, purifying baths, etc), due to the Placebo effect. In the modern Sleep Study Centres (visits and meetings with professors /doctors of special departments of the Evaggelismos and Eginitio Hospitals), the simple furnishing and decoration and the blue lighting create the appropriate conditions, so as to introduce one in a state of relaxation and sleep. Concluding, …oneirograph… invites the audience to a journey within the deepest senses, thoughts and feelings, via special types of sound waves (such as white noise and binaural waves ), audio pictures and sound effects and finally, through the warm sound of piano and breath…; the sound of water; the sound of nature, which is also the bridge between the music and the audience. The beginning of life...of our dreams. And just before we awake, we meet again the alpha brain waves ; the bridge between our conscious and subconscious mind. And then, we awake… pure… again! To the Divinity of Dreams; The Fumigation from Aromatics "THEE I invoke, blest pow'r of dreams divine, Angel of future fates... …For ever friendly to the upright mind, Sacred and pure, to holy rites inclin'd; " Orphic Hymn 86