Ábránd (card game)

The card game Ábránd seeks to facilitate the processing of spiritual processes between our dreams and waking. Our dream content vanishes quickly after we wake up; however, the subsequent awakening of thoughts and finding overlaps with others can have a positive effect on “personal growth”. While the game is competitive and based on scoring, the initiation of a community experience and the resulting conversations are far more important. The game seeks to capture the mapping of everyday phenomena in our dreams, approaching even spiritually stressful topics in a playful and communicative way. The style of the cards and the gesture-like drawings allow us to infer our occasional tangled notes after waking up. The essence of game Ábránd is to encourage people to reflect on the subjective meaning of their dreams during and after the game.

My thesis deals with the relationship between our dream and waking world. Within that I research the possibilities of dream processing with the help of design and participatory methods. I thoroughly research sleep and dreaming from a physiological and psychological point of view, thus examining the possibilities of displaying the unconscious. Is self reflection affected by the ability to recall dreams, mental and physical well-being, attitudes toward dreams and spirituality? What can we do to better understand the connections and spiritual processes between our dreams and waking? What makes a dream capture method successful? What methodological difficulties do dream researchers face? Can dream-books and esoterics help dream-work? Can visuality and design have an effect on evoking dream images? Can dreams work as tools for self-knowledge?