Street Dreaming

In Toronto I lived in a relatively trash free neighbourhood. When I started ITP I moved to Bed-Stuy which is literally full of trash and last weekend I moved to Prospect Heights which is suspiciously clean..

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about trash, particularly the trash of Bed-Stuy which I already miss in a way. I actually enjoy leaving my apartment early in the morning to happen upon the refuse; not the random trash that blows around or the garbage that amasses on collection day but rather the very specifically place trash that just screams about the secret happenings from the night before. I often find myself walking by thinking, “oof, what happened here last night?!”.

It’s like putting the random scraps of a story back together that can never truly be verified. It feels a little like a dream in it’s opacity while also feeling very personal (as a community) or unique to the quirkiness of the area. It makes me think about the collective dream or the collective happening of a community. I think it’s novel to think about the trash as nuanced clues of a collective dream. What did we do last night, Bed-Stuy?! How can the objects or remnant story pieces be interpreted for the headspace of the street?

In order to do this experiment, I left my apartment super early four mornings in a row, heading to a different street in Bed-Stuy each morning to photograph an example of the chaotic dream happenings of the night before. It maybe took three minutes tops to come across these gems.

I made a basic script that scrapes Veale’s Dream Interpretations and nests them between strings that I feed it. The scrape is based on key words that I glean from the image. The script then mashes it all together to give me this strange street dream interpretation to analyze the inhabitants of that block.

I was so happy to come across this strange carnage on the first day of this study! This just seems like such an accurate hilarious depiction of the kind of trash that you find in Bed-Stuy. There’s clearly a story here or, at the very least, it makes me curious as to what happened the night before! Were these juice cartons being carried in this Polar Springs box? How did they end up so meticulously placed? Why abandon them in such a hurry?

So again, I wonder, what street dreams or night activities lead to this? These are the key words that I put into the script: punch, tropical, twister, juice, Poland, spring, carton

This is the street dream interpretation script spit out:

The people of Nordstand, Bed-Stuy dreamt heavily last night. Visions of juice represents the gift of life and vitality for it’s dwellers. Visions of spring signifies hope, new beginnings and creative endeavors for the people who live there. To see a water spring on Nordstrand symbolizes emotional energy and expressiveness for all today while punch represents vitality and renewal. 

Here are some of the others throughout the week.

Keywords for the script: doughnut, donut, dough, icing, frosting, dessert, napkin, baked.

Deepest dreams for Franklin Ave, Bed-Stuy. To see dough signifies potential, possibilities and the ability to create while a napkin neatness and cleanliness. The people seek indulgence, celebration, reward, or temptation because to see icing in your dream suggests that what may seem good in the beginning, will ultimately be unsatisfying and unfulfilling.

Keywords for the script: hair, wig, knots, tangles

Soft slumber for the inhabitants of Tompkins Ave, Bed-Stuy. Dreams indicate that its dwellers have completely lost their minds while worries over minor problems and small matters. To see hair on Tompkins signifies sexual virility, seduction, sensuality, vanity, and health for all but also losing hair denotes concerns with the notion that you are getting older and losing your sex appeal and virility. Today the wind is blowing through your hair signifying freedom to express uninhibited feelings.

Keywords for the script: tortilla, paper, chips, nachos, snack

Sweet dreams for Gates Ave, Bed-Stuy. To see nachos signifies a need for more leisurely pursuits for everyone who lives there though crumpled paper shows abandoned ideas. The people eat a tortilla and represent wholeness all day.