Somnium

Somnium: A noun that means "dream", "vision", "fantasy", or "day-dream".

Art Exhibition:

August 16-September 27, 2025

Reception: Aug 20, 7-9pm

Artist Talk: Sept 17, 7-9pm

Dougherty Arts Center

Julia C. Butridge Gallery

1110 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX 78704

About Somnium

Somnium is a multimedia exhibition by MetaCaustics (featuring new-media artists Jasna Boudard and Topher Sipes) exploring the visual language of the subconscious. Drawing from the Latin word somnium, meaning “dream,” “vision,” or “fantasy,” the exhibition weaves together digital works, immersive projections, paintings, drawings, and 3D prints to evoke the layered, nonlinear space of inner experience.

Through a mix of tangible and digitally rendered artworks, the exhibit invites viewers into an ethereal, interactive world where imagination and creation converge. Somnium blurs the boundary between waking and dreaming, revealing surreal forms where a lucid reality emerges. Darkness becomes a canvas for a luminous realm where the impossible feels within reach and the self is reflected in perfect symmetry.

About MetaCaustics

MetaCaustics is a collaborative new media art duo composed of camera artist Jasna Boudard and digital illustrator Topher Sipes. Their partnership merges analog and digital worlds through the shared language of light-based projection. Jasna brings a background in photography, video art, and immersive installation, while Topher contributes digital artwork that blends traditional drawing with VR and 3D design.

Together, they create immersive environments where light, movement, and elemental imagery converge, inviting viewers into spaces that feel both grounded and otherworldly. Their work explores the intersection of technology, embodiment, and sensory experience, transforming spaces into portals of presence and perception.

MetaCaustics has exhibited work at multidisciplinary art events such as the Austin Creek Show, Illumaverse, DadaLab, ArtUsCo, and was commissioned to projection-map the Hays County Courthouse. They often create site-specific installations that blend real-world footage with digitally rendered imagery through projected light. Their upcoming solo show, Somnium, will open at the Dougherty Arts Center in August, 2025.

An artist couple posing together at an exhibition with colorful lighting and laser effects in the background.

Dreamcatchers of Light

by Jasna Boudard

Dreamcatchers of Light is a series of small-scale paintings that reimagine the dreamcatcher as a luminous, imaginative form.

Painted on 9" x 12" black canvases using a pointillist technique, each piece is composed entirely of layered dots, giving the impression that the image is made of glowing particles suspended in space. The dreamcatchers appear to shimmer against the dark background, like constellations or sacred symbols lit from within.

Each design is unique, blending geometric balance with dreamlike variation. The titles of the work, such as “Dream of Origin” and “Dream of Arrival” reflect the unique inspiration behind creating each piece.

To view in detail and purchase the work, please visit our online store

Remembering Anamnesis

by Topher Sipes

Anamnesis is a philosophical concept most closely associated with Plato. It refers to the idea that learning is a process of recollection—that the soul already possesses all knowledge from before birth, and what we call “learning” is really a remembering of what the soul already knows.

This series is an ecstatic reawakening, a visual invocation of reconnecting with forgotten parts of self. Remembering Anamnesis invites viewers into a procession of digitally painted and virtually sculpted beings that feel both ancient and emergent, mythic and deeply personal.

Some works were drawn live on an iPad during improvisational dance rituals. Others were sculpted in virtual reality and illuminated through physics-based rendering. These forms emerged through trance-like processes, guided by music, motion, and altered states of awareness. They channel archetypes, inner witnesses, and dream intelligences.

To view in detail and purchase the work, please visit our online store

Reflection Relics

by MetaCaustics

Reflection Relics distills moments from MetaCaustics’ expansive digital worlds into tangible form. Each 3D print emerges from fragments of past collaborative works, including video installations and virtual reality environments.

Once ephemeral and light-based, these shapes now exist as physical artifacts, preserving traces of immersive spaces that could only be experienced in motion. In their new form, they become sculptural echoes - quiet, tactile reflections of realms that once shimmered in pixels and projection.

To view in detail and purchase the work, please visit our online store

Somnium Slices

by MetaCaustics

At the heart of Somnium is a collaborative series of eight projection-based works created in collaboration by Jasna and Topher.

Each piece is built from real video footage, VR-generated content, or digital imagery designed in Blender, transforming shared experiences into luminous, immersive encounters. The series includes Melting Mirrors, Holotropic, Tenta, Black Sun, Wilting Light, Purple Passage, and Rhythm Repair, each exploring a different theme while remaining connected through movement, mystery, and presence. Together, these works blur distinctions between the physical and the digital, inviting viewers to enter spaces where intimacy and imagination unfold in unexpected ways.