Somnambulance

1999 video 16:14 minutes
for one to three viewers, to be watched in a darkened room, after 11pm

Somnambulance is a hypnotic journey late at night along the Los Angeles area freeways. This is a recorded performance of driving with musical accompaniment (my whistling). The term "somnambulance" literally means the state of sleep-walking, or in this case, it's more toward inducing a hypnogogic state. I was very much awake while driving for this video, but the viewer is encouraged to relax or even nod off while watching, as it is completely safe. Hopefully, the viewer will enjoy the experience of being able to sleep "in the car", and not worry about the driving. The experience reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon that has haunted me my whole adult life:

(Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty are sitting together under a tree, talking:)
PP: What do you think security is, Chuck?
CB: Security… It's when you're a little kid, and you've been somewhere with your parents, and it's night, and you're riding home in the car, and you can sleep in the back seat. You don't have to worry about anything, your parents are in the front seat, and they do all the worrying. They take care of everything….
PP: That's real neat!
CB: But it doesn't last. Suddenly you're grown up, and it can never be that way again!
PP: Never?
CB: Absolutely never!
PP: Hold my hand, Chuck!!