NEW YORK, NY.- The Rubin Museum’s acclaimed BRAINWAVE series has kicked off its fourth season on February 7 with a conversation between spoken-word artist Henry Rollins and neuroscientist David Eagleman. Subsequent conversations feature composer and performance artist Meredith Monk, playwright John Patrick Shanley, painter David Salle, and actress Debra Winger among other artists paired with leading scientists involved in the study of the mind.

The museum's fourth annual exploration of the human mind focuses on the relationship between dreams and creativity, prophecy and consciousness. Why do we dream? What function does this ancillary brain activity serve? Do dreams anticipate the future? Can dreams inspire creativity in our waking lives? BRAINWAVE explores these questions in a variety of formats. In addition to the public dialogues, the museum hosts its first "dream-over" for adults, and a series of workshops complementing the U.S. theatrical premiere of the award-winning documentary The Edge of Dreaming, which explores prophetic dreaming.

The Rubin Museum’s Producer, Tim McHenry said, “The subject of dreaming was a natural choice. Buddhism might not exist were it not for the ‘conception’ dream of Queen Maya, the Buddha's mother. In her dream a white elephant comes to her while she is sleeping and penetrates her right side with his trunk. It is from this same side that the Buddha is born, setting in motion a chain of fantastic events that would eventually lead to his Enlightenment. Through BRAINWAVE, the museum collaborates with an incredible cross-section of the creative community to enable a dynamic exploration of the life of the mind.”