Tai Shani's The Spell or The Dream: A Conscious Take on the Unconscious
- Emily Henman
- Aug 21
- 4 min read
A sea of hazy blue and an enchanting soundscape, Tai Shani’s The Spell or The Dream at Somerset House is the artist in her element. The artwork, consisting of a 24/7 radio station, a flag and a gigantic ‘sleeping’ figure in the Edmond J. Safra courtyard, was commissioned as part of Somerset House’s 25 year celebration. It explores the state of dreaming in the individual and the collective alike, using the disconnection of sleep to underscore the importance of active participation in a broader social and political landscape. Shani has been the recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize, and is the perfect executor of this tribute to the centre of culture and art in the heart of London.
The Spell (2025)
The Spell consists of a colossal body reclining in a glass case; a figure enthralled in the spell-bounding process of dreaming. It wears a white lace gown and bonnet reminiscent of Victorian sleepwear, accessorising with a pearl pendant. The notion of sleep is solidified by an animatronic stomach that slowly rises and falls, mimicking an unconscious breathing pattern. There is something entirely voyeuristic about the coffin-like glass cage, as people clamber onto its plinth and lean over the enclosure. Though the figure is clothed, it lacks the warmth provided by a duvet, resulting in two large blue feet on full display. It feels unnatural, watching this figure unperturbed by onlookers, the vast courtyard, and the broader soundscape of central London. This is, however, in keeping with its ethos. The figure has been described as sleeping "through the warnings of present and future catastrophes, economic inequality, social breakdown, political disaster, and environmental collapse, dreaming out the violence of colonialism and its living legacies, the fairy tale of empire”, according to Somerset House. The soundtrack to its slumber is performed by Maxwell Sterling - a composer, producer and double bassist. Sterling’s hypnotic melodies flow out of the speakers that are embedded in the sides of the enclosure, furthering the trance-like state that this artwork induces. Overall, the figure demonstrates both a passive reluctance and active resistance in its act, subverting any associations of sluggishness and stagnation typically applied to sleep and dreaming.
The Dream Radio
The listening booth for The Dream Radio is located just inside Seamen’s Hall at Somerset House. Atop blue velvet seating it is possible to pick up headphones from the wall and listen to a variety of contributors discuss art, technology, life and the intersections between the three. The stream of conscious-esque narration undeniably mimics the unconscious brain. The station consists of a variety of contributors including Brian Eno and Cécile B. Evans, with the latter’s new radio adaptation of ‘A Spurt of Blood’ by Antonin Artaud being just one of the commissions. Not only is the radio available within Somerset House, but it is accessible to anyone tuning in from all around the world, effectively unifying the experience of dreaming and the musings of those who do. This is signified even more explicitly by the invitation for anyone to submit their own dreams for interpretation in some special broadcasts. The focus is centred on wider “shared associations” of dreaming and what they might reveal about society as a whole.
The Dreamer (2025)
The all-seeing flag, depicting a singular eye, casts an intensive stare over the courtyard. It presents a singular tear, round and reminiscent of the pearl pendant adorned by The Spell. The flag is a crisp blue that is camouflaged against the bright sky, yet its red iris manifests as a stark contrast. It’s as though The Dreamer is a metaphysical state to The Spell’s explicitly physical form, an out of body projection of the unconscious state. The colour blue, running rife through the commission, is the perfect encapsulation of Shani’s own perpetuation of dreams - both a unified experience and infinitely altered, interpreted, reworked.
Tai Shani
Shani’s body of work spans many different mediums including sculpture, photography, film and performance. Her interest in the shared experience of dreaming comes as no surprise following her shared receiving of the Turner Prize in 2019. Shani, along with the three other shortlisted artists, wrote to the judges as a collective and expressed a desire not to be “pitted against” one another, instead highlighting the “importance” and “urgency” of all of the “social and political issues” that they had explored within their individual work. The four split the distinguished award and its £40,000 prize money. Shani is also a big advocate for a free Palestine, with the Palestinian Sound Archive being one contributor to her Dream Radio. Given her concern with under-appreciated, forgotten stories in her art, often reworked and reinterpreted to spotlight the issue at hand, it is no surprise that she has skilfully balanced her artistic imagining of dreaming with real-world issues, reconciling conscious thought with the unconscious mind.
Edited by Daria Slikker, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
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