Sleeping Bed

Sculpture made of spring steel wire, a cot and knitted wire tubes, hidden Nitinol-mechanism, Arduino-microcontroller

In our society sleep and wake rhythm is to a large extent influenced by work schedules. People should go to bed at a certain time, the period spent asleep should be held on a quiet place at night.

Sleep research is concentrated on the biological act of sleeping. Different sleep states and the physiological activities, even the exact moment where you fall asleep can be identified in the EEG-data.

Ethnographic records conducted by Carol M. Worthman tap sleep behavior in different cultures:

There are mentions of hunter-gatherer societies whose members drift away during the day and apparantly lack a regulated sleep rhythm. Rites of initiation, held at night, self-induced states between sleep and wakefulness, in order to conjure visions, have been cited. (Carol M. Worthman, Melissa K. Melby; Toward a Comparative Developmental Ecology of Human Sleep, 2006)

While developing my work I researched my own sleep practices and kept records of the transition between being asleep and awake.

The rhythm of falling asleep and drifting back again, measured during a session in a sleep lab, is controlling the movements of the kinetic sculpture.

Special thanks to Philipp Tiefenbacher and Metalab Vienna for technical support.

Photo 1 (color): Sue Sellinger