Moi Tran's S L E E P

About

S L E E P  is a collective experience taking place over one night in Toynbee Studios, Artsadmin's home in east London.

Guests will be invited to arrive at 6pm on Saturday 6 July, enjoy a communal dinner, and participate in a guided exploration of the theme of this iteration of S L E E P. For S L E E P at Toynbee Studios, Moi Tran looks to poetry as an instrument of hope. She invites contemplation on themes of protest and hope through the reading of ‘Midnight and Other Poems’ (It’s Also Fine) by Mourid Barghouti and ‘Pessimism is for Lightweights’ (Courage is a Muscle) by Salena Godden. These texts will be considered in light of the recent student protests against the genocide in Gaza, demands for divestment and ceasefire in Palestine, and the reactions of the Palestinian people to hearing about these protests.  

After these readings, performances and opportunities for sharing, guests will set up a temporary communal sleeping environment within the building, where they’ll spend the night. At 9am on Sunday 7 July, participants will start the day together with a shared breakfast to reflect on the experience.

How to take part:

If you are interested in participating, click on the ‘booking’ button to the right. You will need to submit your name and email address, and you will be entered into a ballot from which a maximum of 50 names will be randomly selected. We will be accepting submissions until 12pm midday, 10 June, and you will be notified if you’ve been selected or not selected on 17 June. In this form, you also have the opportunity to book on behalf of someone else, and to book for yourself and an access assistant.

About S L E E P:

This will be the fourth iteration of S L E E P, an experience conceived and created by Moi Tran.

S L E E P invites transient encounters in the forming of collective experience and thinking within this domain of intimacy. 

S L E E P positions the sleeping body to reframe collective gathering in a public space, wherever this body / these bodies appear as inclinations of rest. 

This is a recurring piece of participatory real time experience that invites a group exploration of ‘collective sleep’ as a space to contemplate the act of sleep as a conscious reclamation of public space.  

Each public enactment of S L E E P is presented within a theme of thought, that tends towards discourse on immediate events or a theme that is part of the artist’s ongoing research.