‘Dream Space’ is a gamified online project created by Nata Drachinskaya on the HTML5 game engine, 8XR.

The work has been developed in partnership with Chimera, a female-run virtual exhibition platform, and was first presented in August 2023 on the Chimera platform. 

Curator: Anastasia Ustrugova, Chimera platform

The game offers a narrative on how to rebuild life after trauma. It appears that there is no one in this world who hasn’t experienced losing themselves, their country, their home, friends, or family at least once. Each loss marks an ending, and it requires great courage to acknowledge that life won’t remain unchanged.

To cope with the related emotions and feelings, Nata Drachinskaya has built a space referencing to a lucid dream — a type of dream in which the person is in control of their dream.
In this game, you are invited to become a dreamer and to explore the space. Along the way, you need to find and embrace nine different emotional states to unlock the new game level. There Nata Drachinskaya and her close artist friends gathered their tips to support themselves during challenging times.

‘Despite the geographical distance between us, some connections have become only stronger. We often discuss questions like how not to fall apart completely when reality shows its dark side, and how can we support ourselves and our loved ones, what can serve as support when there is no solid ground beneath our feet. They say you can learn to control your dreams and meet those who are separated from you by a long distance. I have created the ‘Dream Space’ to meet my artist friends. Here, we have gathered our ways of supporting each other in dark times’ — Nata Drachinskaya.