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Never Awake

- 2024
- Game/Video

"Never Awake" encapsulates a decade-long journey of personal archaeology through 423 documented dreams, spanning significant socio-historical shifts from 2015 to 2024. This project intricately merges textual records with AI-generated imagery in Unity to craft a unique narrative, challenging the dichotomy between individual significance and the collective narrative. Participants traverse dreamlike landscapes, engaging with themes of environmental, technological, and socio-political change. It underscores human consciousness's resilience, urging deeper reflection on our historical continuum's place and the indelible marks of our time. "Never Awake" elevates dreams as fake historical archives, offering insights into the interplay between personal experiences and collective journeys. Bedrock grinds against our sublime irony and perennial anthropology of deprivation, how can we examine whether we sleep without awake?

The methodology behind "Never Awake" represents an innovative fusion of narrative creation, AI, and game development. Textual excerpts from a decade of dream records are randomly selected to form new stories, which are then visually interpreted through AI-trained images. These images serve as the foundation for creating immersive, interactive experiences within the Unity platform. The final step involves capturing these interactive sequences and editing them into a cohesive video narrative. This approach not only blurs the lines between different media but also leverages the strengths of each to explore the complex relationship between personal dreams and collective history.

Never Awake - Timeline

Never Awake 

北京的雾霾危机,年轻人的伟大梦想,雾霾总有一天会散开,但一些梦想需要被压制。

Beijing's smog crisis, the grand dreams of the youth, the smog will one day clear, but some dreams need to be suppressed.

你不需要知道如何爱自己和爱人,只需要你的子宫忠诚于时代。

No need to master self-love or the art of loving another, just a womb pledged in loyalty to time.

7秒钟的视频,5秒钟的交易,3秒钟的对话,1秒钟确定国家。

7-second video, 5-second transaction, 3-second conversation, 1 second can define the nation.

他在世界大战开始的拉丁桥上求婚,她答应了。战争总被遗忘,而婚姻如战争般开始。

He proposed on the Latin Bridge where the world war ignited; she said yes. The war faded into memory, but their marriage began as if a battle itself.

点一支烟烧了巴黎圣母院,花10000年重建一个细胞。

Lighting a cigarette sets Notre Dame ablaze, yet it takes 10,000 years to reconstruct a single cell.

代码启动程序,集权控制思想,病毒进入身体,世界停止运转。

Code initiates the program, central power governs thought, a virus invades the body, the world halts in its tracks.

基因拖着躯壳凑在一起,在太阳落下月亮升起之间设立阶级,贵贱,规则和冲突。

Genes drag their shells together, establishing hierarchy, nobility and commonality, rules and conflicts between the sunset and the moonrise.

艺术在和平时代是无用的,但是现在和平吗? 在面临技术进步和地缘政治变化的世界中快点快点扩大个人界限吧。

Art may seem futile in times of peace, but is it peaceful now? Amidst rapid technological advancements and geopolitical shifts, hasten to expand one's boundaries.

在一个寻求平衡和可持续发展的世界中,移民和液体一样不断交融又被消化。

In a world striving for balance and sustainability, migrants blend and are assimilated like liquids in constant flux.

AI统治我的大脑,指导我工作。我躺在床上看着世界,世界在虚拟中慢慢变成现实。

AI rules my mind, guiding my work. I lie in bed watching the world, as it slowly shifts from virtual to reality.

我们从未醒来。

We never awaken.

Never Awake - Timeline

Never Awake

​S1 - Year 2015

和尚穿橙色裟袍,地上全是鱼,我去了河边,看不见牛,却在天上看见了它们。踩死了一只蜗牛,我为他祭奠整整一个月。然后我死了。看到极光说好美,突然地崩山摧,白色的空间里开满了一地黑色小花。我一直跑,甩不掉身后那只狗了。我停下,发现在一个叫“弋蓝”的地方,身边全是小矮人,面目狰狞,我大喊我不是鲁滨逊,Friday快救我。很长的铁索桥,四周高山耸立,兔子会飞,長頸鹿把我叼起來,只要跟着唱一句“我家住在黄土高坡喔哦~”就可以拿走我订的外卖。扁扁先生变得高大,他拉着我一直狂奔,穿过沙漠,一片白,一阵风,所有的人都在倒立。橙色的嘴唇,张口,眼前一黑!这是哪里?翻山越岭过后发现不过是你的牙,而我太小了。螃蟹一直旋转,突然钳子抓住了树藤。红色小人一片,跳着跑着。

Monks in dazzling orange robes, the ground covered in fish. I went to the riverbank, saw cows, not on the ground, but in the sky. I stepped on a snail and mourned it for a whole month. Then, I died. I saw the auroras and marveled at their beauty, suddenly the ground broke and mountains crumbled, a white space filled with black flowers blossomed. I kept running, unable to shake off the dog behind me. I stopped and found myself in a place called "Yi Lan," surrounded by sinister dwarfs. I screamed I'm not Robinson, Friday save me. A long suspension bridge, surrounded by towering mountains, rabbits flying about, a giraffe picked me up, singing "My home lies on the loess plateau, oh~" to receive my takeaway. Mr. Flat became tall, he dragged me running through the desert, all white, a gust of wind, everyone was standing on their hands. Orange lips, open mouth, darkness before my eyes, shit, where is this? Over mountains and hills, only to find it's just your teeth, and I'm too small. Crabs spinning, suddenly its claw grabbed a vine. Red little people everywhere, hopping and running.

S2 - Year 2016

到处都是医院,地上爬满了孩子,进入一个没有窗口的小屋,压抑的感觉扑面而来,转身想出逃,却发现被戴上了脚链。直面镜子,我变成了魔鬼。大家都提着荧光色手提袋,有一个孩子脸的热气球,天上飞的都是纸尿裤,人们抱着十几个孩子排队换钱,人们拿着钱去老年游乐园玩,孩子被酿成了咸菜和酒。

Hospitals everywhere, children crawling on the ground, entering a windowless cabin, an oppressive feeling hits, turning to flee only to find shackles on my feet. Facing the mirror, I turned into a devil. Everyone carrying fluorescent bags, a child's face on a hot air balloon, diapers flying in the sky, people holding dozens of children in line to exchange for money, people spending that money in an amusement park for the elderly, children turned into pickles and wine.

S3 - Year 2017

打开红包算着算着有不一样的纸币,房间里放炮,好多声之后,全部消失变成了数字和符号。灰色围巾里藏着一个问题:人为什么一定要读书?一只鹿站在树边看着屋内,晚上六点半之后就要关门关灯,不然留守那一块的鬼就会出来害你!当然,每个房间的物品是不被允许拿到另一个房间的。屋子外面是白色的外墙 我们一直跑,一直想跑出来……母亲往上爬的时候开了电闸,于是他又被电了,又死了一个人,这次是个孩子,忙碌于在手机上切土豆片和猪肉排。

Opening the lucky money, counting different bills, fireworks in the room, after many sounds, all vanished into numbers and symbols. A gray scarf hides a question: Why must people read books? A deer stands by the tree, watching the house, after 6:30 p.m. the doors must close and lights shut off, or the ghosts left behind will come out to harm you! Of course, taking items from one room to another is not allowed. Outside the house is a white wall, we kept running, trying to escape... When mother climbed up and turned on the power switch, she was electrocuted, another death, this time a child, busy slicing potatoes and pork chops on the phone.

S4 - Year 2018

长长的街道,排队结账队伍特别特别的长,我们都猫着腰匍匐前进。在树洞内别有洞天,红色的床,往海的方向流去,天有好多乌云,很大的轰隆一声,地开始响动,突然出现了黄色的挖土机,两个小女孩牵着两条不爱叫的小白狗。药水泡过的葫芦,各种各样的,离开摊位的时候我们是坐船,还经过一个市场,有硕大的莫兰迪色圆月和粉橙交替的落日,分不清日月,拍到巨型客机和威尼斯尖头船同时出现在天空中的水面。梦里有一句话:“我是你随机生成的宇宙银河,而你是我”。

A long street, a queue for checkout so very long, we all crouched and crawled forward. Inside a tree hole, a different world, a red bed, flowing towards the sea, many dark clouds above, a loud boom, the ground began to shake, suddenly a yellow excavator appeared, two little girls holding two quiet white dogs. Gourds soaked in potion, various kinds, when we left the stall we were on a boat, passing through a market, with giant Morandi-colored moons and pink-orange sunsets, unable to distinguish between day and night, capturing a giant airliner and Venetian pointed boats appearing simultaneously in the sky above the water. In the dream, a voice said, "I am your randomly generated universe and galaxy, and you are mine."

S5 - Year 2019

长时间不来的车,躲不回山里的马,厕所里面都是史努比,这里是有动物的!每一次都死一个人,死法不同。河马,火烈鸟,关笼子里的猴子……这些冰是宝石状的。大楼外的泥土竟然33层楼高了,冲破钢化玻璃进入室内!我们买了小鱼仔,兜里都揣着猫薄荷,等着猫来关照。嘴里一直念着129.42,129.42,129.42。外面打雷下雨,于是我走进我看见对面的那个大鱼缸,我很害怕,我点了一支烟,还没开始抽便直接到达了世界另一端,我灭掉了烟,我被烧死在了过去的过去,和未来的未来,就像,大火烧了的巴黎圣母院。

Buses that don't come for ages, horses that can't hide back in the mountains, toilets full of Snoopys, this place has animals! Every time, someone dies, each time differently. Hippos, flamingos, monkeys in cages... The ice is gem-shaped. The mud outside the building reached 33 stories high, breaking through tempered glass into the interior! We bought little fishes, pockets filled with catnip, waiting for cats to take care. My mouth kept repeating 129.42, 129.42, 129.42. Outside, thunder and rain, so I walked into the fish tank I saw across, I was scared, I lit a cigarette, before I could take a puff I was directly transported to the other end of the world, I extinguished the cigarette, I was burned to death in the past's past and the future's future, just like, the Notre Dame de Paris consumed by fire.

S6 - Year 2020

好大的海啸卷来了一只熊,我看见它在不远处趴下,研究密码,吃了一个自己种自己摘的苹果,我抱着一个富婆交给我的钻石,甩掉了一群开摩托车的。雍容华贵的老太太们坐在咖啡厅里用文胸当眼镜看升旗。一个山洞里,我们一群人常年住里面,那里是天然形成的一个循环洞,可以躲避外面恐怖的事情,门很精美,是木制镶嵌金属的,雕花特别好看,那边有种很神奇的材料,3d打印的材料直接放在热熔枪里,做出的生物蛇好长,暗绿色的,它看着乱七八糟的画报很生气,因为觉得被刻意地画丑了。

A massive tsunami swept in a bear, which I saw lying down not far away, studying a password, eating an apple it had grown and picked itself. I held a diamond given to me by a wealthy woman, shaking off a group of motorcyclists. Dignified elderly ladies sat in a cafe, using bras as glasses to watch the flag-raising. In a cave, a group of us lived year-round, a naturally formed loophole to avoid the horrors outside. The door was exquisite, made of wood inlaid with metal, beautifully carved. There was a magical material there, a 3D printing material directly used in a hot melt gun, creating long, dark green biological snakes. It looked angrily at the messy magazines, feeling deliberately depicted as ugly.

S7 - Year 2021

突然打雷闪电,月不像月,像红色太阳。我买了半个大西瓜。住进空军基地改成的一个野生动物园。有一些出入口可以去到其它维度,但我们一群人控制不好,总出事。我是个隐秘的杀手,在厕所杀了一个绿皮肤的女人,揉成团,和满地的纸巾一起装进垃圾袋。一个男人敞开上衣,用软吸管对准他的乳房,蚂蚁开始吸吮,还把头埋进去。产婆就这样从四面八方涌进来。取出了失败的受精卵,开始给第二个男人植入。在第一批试验品结束后,人类缩水变成小小一只,好久之后她才恢复原样。惊涛骇浪,船体一直左右摇晃,有些东西会变怪物,我们一直在和它们战斗,浑身解数,精疲力竭。食人鳄鱼攻击我,我跑出实验室,看见黑孔雀很黑很大。算命的先生,他拿着毛笔在家里各个角落写上了书法,长条的画板,画的是海水,也是路易王朝时期的一场征战发现的那一棵很大的牛油果树。

Suddenly, thunder and lightning, the moon not looking like a moon, but a red sun. I bought half a large watermelon. Moved into a wildlife park converted from an air force base. Some exits led to other dimensions, but our group couldn't control them well, always causing accidents. I was a hidden assassin, killed a green-skinned woman in the bathroom, rolled her up, and stuffed her into a garbage bag with the floor's tissues. A man opened his shirt, aimed a soft straw at his breast, ants began to suck and even buried their heads in. Midwives came from all directions. Removed a failed fertilized egg, began implanting it into a second man. After the first batch of experiments ended, humans shrank into tiny beings, taking a long time to return to their original size. Waves crashing, the ship swayed left and right, some things turned into monsters, we fought them tirelessly, exhausted. A crocodile attacked me, I ran out of the lab, saw a black peacock, very dark and large. The fortune-teller, with a brush in hand, wrote calligraphy in every corner of the house, a long painting board, painted with seawater, also depicting a large avocado tree discovered during a campaign in the Louis XIV era.

S8 - Year 2022

我骑机车载着猫!拿着火机点着小炸弹,把对面长老炸死了。我背对着城市倒下,扯断的铁链还系在我腰上,烧焦的横梁刺穿了我的躯体。我离开了它,看见了许多和我一样的死者。思想顽固的死者。我们聚集在一起驻足在一片白色的空旷的房间。脚尖点地就会出现新的地形地貌,随机的,很漂亮。耳边响起是遗嘱被撕碎的声音和念到一半的悼词。战争打响,在沟壑之间逃命的兵和我们一样灰头土脸,身上的衣服已经和血一个颜色。很累,但是一直在走,穿过一条现代的建筑的大桥,桥的这边虽然不远处在战争,但是繁华无比,没有战争,是一片未被开发的土地,野草丛生,却让人向往不已。在一个和平年代里,我却深切感知到这种无力感。我用着电脑在那里工作着,然后突然看到一个大浪即将过来,我合上电脑,准备开始憋气,有惊无险,在湖边支帐篷,回头一看都是监控,我抱着一只鸭,然后被一只黑鸡狂追,只能跳回到那个小岛,质问着:为什么要有国界和国家的定义。

I rode a motorcycle carrying a cat! Holding a lighter to ignite a small bomb, killing the elder across. I fell backward towards the city, a broken chain still tied around my waist, burnt beams piercing my body. I left it, saw many dead like me. Stubborn dead. We gathered, standing in a white, empty room. Tiptoeing created new landscapes, random, beautiful. The sound of wills being torn and eulogies read halfway filled my ears. War broke out, soldiers fleeing through trenches, as dirty and blood-stained as we were. Tired, but kept walking, crossing a modern architectural bridge. Though war raged not far on one side of the bridge, the other side was bustling, untouched by war, undeveloped land with wild grass, yet irresistibly appealing. In a time of peace, I deeply felt this powerlessness. Working there with a computer, then suddenly seeing a big wave coming, I closed my laptop, prepared to hold my breath, safely by the lake, setting up a tent, turned to see it was all monitored. Holding a duck, then chased by a black chicken, I could only jump back to the island, questioning why there must be definitions of borders and nations.

S9 - Year 2023

一个个没有门的房间,走进去就可以睡去,一点仪式感都没有。但你不会感觉睡去,而是游走在不同梦里,不断试探,指手画脚。四维空间里,坐着三角形飞碟来的外星人要去拯救蘑菇,他们从高处跳下,看到一条黑白条纹的会飞的蛇?或者是龙?蘑菇被刀割了脖子,血喷出来,直到咽气。我大喊不要,我哭得上气不接下气,然后我晕了过去,在晕过去的瞬间我从梦里醒了过来。我一直大喘气,久久不能平息。蘑菇流干了血后变成白灰色毛的长嘴巴狗。我拼命殴打,我想把它赶走,它却拼命的想往里面挤,在一个白色宫殿建筑里变成两个女人在打架,直到视力模糊,在不需要物理对象变体的情况下,视线让世界全部变成了只带颜色的光圈。

Rooms without doors, step in and you sleep, devoid of any ritual. But you don't feel asleep, instead wandering through different dreams, constantly probing, gesturing. In a four-dimensional space, aliens arriving in triangular UFOs set out to save mushrooms, leaping from heights to encounter a black and white striped flying snake? Or dragon? The mushroom's neck is sliced, spurting blood until its last breath. I screamed "no," cried breathlessly, then fainted. In the moment of fainting, I woke from the dream. I gasped for air, struggling to calm down for a long time. The mushroom, drained of blood, turned into a dog with long mouth and white-grey fur. I fought desperately, trying to drive it away, but it desperately tried to squeeze in, transforming into two women fighting in a white palace until my vision blurred, and without the need for physical objects to transform, my sight made the world turn into only colored light rings.

S10 - Year 2024

人工智能在一个木制房子里打猴子,他们设计了一种红外线可以杀人,茶也是。依靠着在蜜蜂在办公室里提取人的dna, 还有草莓和奇异果的dna , 还原了很久之前印度人吃的那种白色面包喂给了山洞悬崖里的一只怪物。还把地狱里许多许多死人复活了过来,把活着的人送到地狱。当他们在花园里用着精准计算打高尔夫的时候,活死人们就需要一直不断捡球,捡到腰疼,再到睡过去,醒过来。

Artificial intelligence beats monkeys in a wooden house, they've designed an infrared that can kill, as can tea. Relying on extracting human DNA in the office with bees, along with the DNA of strawberries and kiwis, they recreated the white bread eaten by Indians long ago and fed it to a monster in a cave cliff. They also resurrected many dead from hell, sending the living to hell. As they played golf in the garden with precise calculations, the living dead had to continuously collect balls, collecting until their backs hurt, then falling asleep, and waking up again.

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