Phuong Dao

Home, The Biography of Time

I have three dreams about a house. In the first dream, the house appears to me as a recollection of my childhood memories about the garden, the stairs, the bed, the study corner, my Mother. These memories, although they dwell in the form of my actual house, they are big, small, ambiguous and floating, just as cloudy as how dreams are. 

In the second dream, the house becomes more substantial, I started to see a house with columns, beams, walls and doors that I am able to live in. But the thing is: I don’t live here alone, the house invites people in different phases of life to come to dwell in. Here, my house is my house, but also a universal concept of mankind’s dwelling at home. 

In the last dream, the house comes physically closer to me at most: I saw myself building and living in it. It becomes an experience in which the house, comes from the dreams, penetrates the reality. 

After waking up, do dreams make sense? What do I learn from the house? Do time and memories connect to the notion of Home? - I am exploring through the project called ‘Home, the biography of time.’ 

Graduation date: 28 January 2025
Graduation committee: Machiel Spaan (mentor), Marlies Boterman, Eric de Leeuw 
Additional members for the exam: Jeroen van Mechelen, Freyke Hartemink 
External advisor: Martin Probst, Vibeke Gieskes