What is dreamcore?
Dreamcore is an internet-based surrealist aesthetic. Through media such as images, videos, and music, it simulates and recreates the feeling of dreams—experiences that are both strange and familiar, both warm and melancholic. Dreamcore works often have unclear image quality with visible grain. The scenes are usually set in abandoned childhood places. It creates a sense of familiarity based on a generation’s collective memory, bringing viewers a gentle sense of sadness.
Why does dreamcore emerge?
The main audience and creators of dreamcore are people born between 1995 and 2009. This group experienced a unique gap: their childhood took place in the early days of the internet, but their teenage years were shaped by the mobile internet era—defined by high-definition visuals, algorithms, and social media performance.
Therefore, the empty shopping malls, old-style family restaurants, and deserted playgrounds seen in dreamcore works are actually recalling a childhood world that had not yet been fully infiltrated by smartphones and social media. This nostalgia is not aimed at specific objects, but at a safe, enclosed state of being with a blurred sense of time.
Liminal space
Liminal space is an aesthetic and internet concept that refers to transitional, seemingly familiar yet empty spaces that make people feel temporarily disconnected from reality. Visually, liminal spaces often have these features: emptiness, strange lighting, and architectural structures with repetition or symmetry. This is highly similar to dreamcore.
Summary
Dreamcore creates a dreamlike atmosphere through the familiarity of collective memory. It resonates psychologically with people of a particular generation, serving as a product of their nostalgia. It also reflects how people are shaped by the development of the information age. It is an expression of nostalgia for an era.
Sherry
Grade8
