Once a mortal shaman guarding the gates at the threshold of dreams and the awakened, Blue Fire Veil (Tzictli Tletl Ehecatl) got banished to the borderlands…
Dreamcatcher is a series that investigates the relationship between writing and memory through the prism of digitised dreams, seeking to expose their content to the awakened experience. By materialising personal dream recollections and their aesthetics over an extended period, the project is a continuous research punctuated by mixed-media installations progressively shedding light on mythologies of the transient and liminal. Three questions motivated the project: How can we represent something so elusive that we can only recollect in parts and brief moments? How can we make such an uncertain thing tangible while preserving its polysemy? Can we get more objective sources than their narrations? The interesting aspect of such questions, in both artistic and scientific views, is the tension between our scientific knowledge that establishes strong beliefs about the capacities of the human mind and the desire to deal with the bits that elude representation. Rebuilt with AI in 4 dimensions from brain and semantic data collected during my active sleep sessions and their awakened recollections, oniric landscapes, objects, and characters emerge to reveal this unknown of our lives and its role in human creative capacities. By materialising them, fleeting memories become tangible and make it possible to be re-experienced fully awake, within the aesthetic veil of the Pittoresque and how it deals with spatial compositions and sensible experiences.
Once a mortal shaman guarding the gates at the threshold of dreams and the awakened, Blue Fire Veil (Tzictli Tletl Ehecatl) got banished to the borderlands, where dreaming and waking intertwine, to offer guidance and wisdom for venturing into the Fleeting. Their human form was stripped away after a battle they do not speak of and merged with their cheetah totem to become a wanderer of thresholds, haunting dreamscapes and whispering its story. Blue Fire Veil is the first emerging character of the mythological tribe Neo-naguals, once populating the Belt of The Bright Night and guarding its Gates. Neo-Naguals embody the transition between dreams and wakefulness. These figures provide deeper insight into the transformative potential of shamanic rituals, trance, and dream states, anchoring them in a broader mythology of transcendence and self-exploration. The character is composed of two entities cohabiting in tension, where the memories and histories of the ancient digital shaman vibrate with those of the physical performer. They explore how interactive and generative digital entities can engage with live performances and the narrative of the series to bring these characters to hybrid life.
The Long Walk is a sequenced walk video in a loop, conceived in a vertical format for large human-sized displays. It brings the digital character into a state of mutual encounter. Blue Fire Veil performs the endless ritual of walking through dreams. While never managing to cross the digital screen, both the audience and the shaman walk towards each other from two different realms. This looped journey transforms the walk into a kind of procession or pilgrimage, echoing a trans-state for both the spectator and the digital shaman.
Installation view, vertical TV display in corridor.
Series: Dreamcatcher
Version: 2.0.1
Title: Blue Fire Veil, The Long Walk
Year: 2026
Type: Video Installation
Authors: CompMonks, Silke Grabinger
Dimensions / Format: 98 inch vertical TV
Materials: var.
Production: CompMonks
Collaboration: Silke Grabinger - Artistic collaboration
©CompMonks, Silke Grabinger