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The stuff of dreams

By Lin Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-23 11:36

Wearing self-designed costumes, students of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology present a play to illustrate how brain substances fight cancer cells during sleep.

If someone had told him two months ago that science could be as fun as animation, Pu Kaiji - an art and design student of Nanjing's Southeast University - would have laughed.

But, not now. His animation project, which vividly illustrates the activation-synthesis model of dreaming, not only helped the audience understand an obscure neurobiological theory, but also elicited much applause and laughter in Beijing last weekend.

The project secured for Pu's team a slot among the five finalists selected from 20 entrants nationwide, and was presented at the finals of Dream Lab. This inspirational competition asked university students from different disciplines to work together and curate an innovative video to explore the science of dreams and sleeping.

Dream Lab is the brainchild of five art, education and science institutions of Britain and was brought to China this year by the British Council (BC) China as a highlight event of its on-going mini education festival, Experience!

Entitled Brain Factory, Pu's animation was produced by him and five other schoolmates majoring in animation and industrial design. The work compared the brain to a factory, in which people's external stimulations and memories are processed by different brain centers - in the same way raw materials are processed on an assembly line - to generate a dream.

For instance, when David, the main protagonist of the animation, feels scared after seeing a dog, this feeling is picked up separately by the "Memory" and "Emotion" machines. His brain then combines the two and creates a nightmare that a horrified David is being frantically chased by a dog.

Before they came up with such a hilarious plot to explain dreaming, Pu, the team captain, and his partners spent days deliberating what theory they would like to explicate. Pu says since none of them studied science, they first discussed all aspects they could relate to dream and sleeping and looked for theoretical references in the school library.

"When we presented all we could find about sleep to our advisor, a science teacher at the university, he disappointed us a little by saying that almost all sleep theories are now based on assumptions and psychoanalysis," Pu says. "But then he suggested the activation-synthesis theory, which he said, had been proven scientifically to be true.

"Choosing which theory to interpret turned out to be much more difficult than making the animation itself," he says.

Jazreel Goh Yeun Yeun, director of education marketing of BC China, says the project encourages students to link science with art and to make it appealing in a creative manner.

Yu Yang, a member of Pu's team says: "I used to think that animations were just for fun and sciences were boring. This is the first time I've tried explaining a scientific theory through a simply-understood and humorous language I am familiar with. The brainstorming changed my stereotypical view of the sciences and expanded my understanding of animation art."

As for science students, they are inspired to communicate with art from a new perspective.

"The project, with its theme of dreams and sleep is itself quite new to me," says Zhang Weicai, a zoology student and captain of the team from Xiamen University in Fujian province. The team designed a digital exhibition hall that invited viewers to embark on a journey to the brain, and play interactive games to experience how dreams are generated.

"The arguments between us science students and our art partners were frequent yet quite compelling. I've found that art is not as abstruse as I thought," he says.

Zhou Wenning from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology says their team's greatest challenge was to come up with the six costumes for their project video, within two months. Wearing these fabulous costumes, each member of the team role-played brain substances, such as endorphin and BEP (beta-endorphin) hormone, and showed how they interacted to fight cancer and depression during sleep. They won the first prize and a week-long trip to Britain next year.

Despite not winning, Pu says he has learned about efficient project management and teamwork.

Professor Time Molloy, one of the judges and head of creative direction at the Science Museum in London, says: "I am amazed by the students' energy and creativity. I'd like to show a good number of their works at my museum."