LIBRARY OF DREAMS is a multimedia documentary project exploring how the human psyche responds to life under oppressive regimes. At its center is a VR experience where viewers travel through the shared dreamscapes of ordinary people — a child, a Siberian peasant, a housewife — from the Third Reich, the USSR, and modern Russia.
In environments where speech is silenced, fear is internalized, and social bonds begin to fracture, dreams become a space where hidden emotions surface. Using dreams as both lens and language, the project reveals how repression imprints itself on the collective subconscious.
Beyond VR, the exhibition includes archival materials, interactive audio installations, and dome projection — together forming a museum of dreams, where subconscious narratives bypass censorship to express collective trauma.
At its heart, LIBRARY OF DREAMS illuminates the split between public silence and private truth that defines life under authoritarian rule.
Beyond VR, the exhibition includes archival materials, interactive audio installations, and dome projection — together forming a museum of dreams, where subconscious narratives bypass censorship to express collective trauma.
At its heart, LIBRARY OF DREAMS illuminates the split between public silence and private truth that defines life under authoritarian rule.
ABOUT
LIBRARY OF DREAMS is a co-production between Less Media Group and Abduct Media.
The project has been supported by the FFF Bayern and the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) Fund.
The project has been supported by the FFF Bayern and the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) Fund.
PARTNERS
SPECIAL THANKS
Emmanuelle Faucilhon
Astrid Kahmke
Kathrin Brunner
Oliver Czeslik
Nimrod Shanit
Dinara Kagirova
Alexander Lyapunov
Alexandra Selivanova
Aksinia Dorn
"A project to grasp the depths
of the human psyche"
of the human psyche"
XRMust
Discover more about LIBRARY OF DREAMS and its journey on XRMust, a leading media outlet for immersive storytelling.
LIBRARY OF DREAMS began in 2022 as a project idea developed during the Digital Autumn VR Lab, organized by Less Media Group in partnership with the French Institute in Moscow. Since then, the project has moved through research, development, and prototyping.
Its first VR prototype was selected for the Innovation Studio showcase at Sunny Side of the Doc in France in 2023. The same year, the project took part in the European Creators' Lab Development and Prototyping Labs in Luxembourg and Leipzig.
In 2024, LIBRARY OF DREAMS was selected as one of 12 international projects for Biennale College Cinema — Immersive in Venice, and later presented at the NewImages Festival XR Development Market in Paris.
In 2025, the project entered co-production with the German studio Abduct Media and received production support from two German media funds: FFF Bayern in Bavaria and MDM in Central Germany. In November 2025, it was also selected for the European Co-Production Session at the Geneva International Film Festival.
The VR experience is currently in production and is scheduled to premiere in September 2026.
Primary Sources
During the research phase, the project team collected hundreds of dreams from different historical periods and contexts: Germany between 1933 and 1939, the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s, and contemporary Russia in 2022−2023. The dreams were then organized by recurring themes, emotions, and narrative patterns. This process revealed striking similarities across time and place, helping shape the narrative journey of the VR experience.
The research is ongoing, and you can contribute your own dream to the LIBRARY OF DREAMS archive for future projects by filling in the form.
The research is ongoing, and you can contribute your own dream to the LIBRARY OF DREAMS archive for future projects by filling in the form.
RESEARCH
STRUCTURE
The dream world of LIBRARY OF DREAMS is divided into four chapters, each drawn from the dreams of people living under political repression across different eras.
Each part—The Room, The Journey, The Mirror and The Lake—reflects recurring emotional patterns found in these dreams. The Room explores the fear of losing private space, The Journey evokes the feeling of helplessness in the face of systemic violence, and The Mirror confronts the unsettling realization of one’s complicity. Together, these chapters form an immersive path through the shared subconscious shaped by life under totalitarian regimes.
THIRD REICH
USSR
MODERN RUSSIA
THIRD REICH
USSR
MODERN RUSSIA
TRAILER
Jane Rzheznikova
Author, Art Director
Alina Mikhaleva
Co-author, Producer
Davide Maria Emanuel Cocchiara
Producer & Developer
Giovanni Cocchiara
Lead Technical Artist & Developer
Jonna Hansen
Lead 3D Artist
Billy Mello
Music & Sound design, specialized in VR
