Rest and Dream Activations
Featured Project Sites: Carson Beach and
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The concept developed from Dzidzor and crystal’s work on inPublic Rest through Design Studio for Social Intervention (ds4si) - a series of sleeping events that took place in public spaces in Boston.
2023-Present
Rest and Dream Activations @ Carson Beach
The Annual Rest and Dream Activation at Carson Beach has been held since 2023 in honor of the anniversary of the protests at Carson Beach, when 700 Black protestors organized a peaceful picnic at the beach to assert their right to rest and relax. Dzidzor and crystal originally planned to organized a rest activation on the beach as part of the Better Beaches program and then learned about this important moment in Boston’s history. From that time, crystal and Dzidzor have focused the Rest and Dream Activation event to honor the 1975 protestors. They have incorporated quotes in the soundscape, included archival images and text in the zines, and creating space for offering gratitude to the protestors through interactive installations and an altar by Nohemi Rodriguez.
This event features a live soundscape performance led by Dzidzor and multiple interactive installations. crystal created a floating installation as part of a ritual to honor the ancestors that dreamed us here and a fabric phone booth. In 2025, the phone booth featured clips from an interview with Leon Rock, one of the organizers of the 1975 protests at Carson beach.
Dzidzor and crystal also collaborated with choreographer Jenny Oliver to invite visitors into embodied rest and dreaming. Visitors were given zines with a Rest and Dream Manifesto created by Dzidzor Azaglo and crystal bi.
Annually 2023 - 2025
Photo credit: Nohemi Rodriguez
DPI @ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
June 2024
Photo Credit: Annielly Camargo