Spaceship of Dreams: William Chambers

An interactive public art project originally developed in York, PA, William Chambers’ Spaceship of Dreams facilitates the sharing of dreams by people from all walks of life. Over a period of two months, the Spaceship collected 300 Yorkers’ dreams for the future of their community and shared them with 1,500 visitors. Now the Spaceship, having had a (fictional) launch and subsequent crash landing, is on a national tour. Its next stop: BMAC during the summer of 2017. Artist and Space Program Director William Chambers will be in residence in Brattleboro for a portion of that time, repairing the ship and gathering Brattlebudlians’ dreams.

Spaceship of Dreams uses art objects and a fictional environment to create an opportunity for community conversation about what is most important in our lives and the world. During a weeklong residency in Brattleboro, Chambers will collect the dreams of those citizens whose voices are not always part of the community conversation. He will bring the Spaceship to the women’s shelter, assisted living facilities, homeless shelter, and a drug recovery center, in the hope of creating space for equitable sharing and conversation across class and economic lines. Kids involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro will team up with downtown businesses to create model rockets that will be displayed in storefronts and will function as additional collection points for dreams. As the dreams accrue, they will become part of the installation at BMAC. The exhibit and outreach efforts will honor the dreams of all visitors and participants as they contemplate the question, “What would make my life, the town, and the world better?”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.