IM/PERFECT SLUMBERS
February 11–August 20, 2023

Guest curated by M artist-in-residence Katya Oicherman in collaboration with Curator of Exhibitions Laura Joseph

On view in the M’s window galleries and skyway entrance.

Im/perfect Slumbers is a multi-disciplinary series of art installations occurring in the M’s window galleries and skyway entrance. Diverse voices of local artists, writers, and cultural activists capture the historical and the contemporary state of sleeping and being in bed. This exhibition is the result of textile artist and researcher Katya Oicherman’s long-term residency at the M.

Sleeping habits, behaviors and objects are all very diverse, yet the very necessity of sleep is shared by all human beings and animals. Those familiar and accessible everyday objects and practices will serve as a conversation opener to reflect on the multitude of social, political, and psychological phenomena related to sleep and rest. Through the soft aesthetics of textiles and associative imagery of dreams, the series will address health, gender, home, labor, and race, enlivening the significance of sleep while envisaging alternatives to the frenzied rallies of modern productivity.

Most of the work has been specially commissioned for the M’s window spaces, including visual and sound installations based on the history of the building as the home of the first local newspaper, The Minnesota Pioneer. In this way the building itself will become a “dreaming-back” machine bringing to life the imperfect slumbers of Minnesotans from one hundred and seventy years ago.

Im/perfect Slumbers artists: Rachel Breen, Sayge Carroll, Amoke Awele Kubat, Shanai Matteson, Katya Oicherman, Molly Parker Stuart, Anat Spiegel, Rotem Tamir, Yuko Taniguchi, Gwen Westerman, Peng Wu.