Dream Work does not so much present dream content than filmic methods of representation corresponding to Freudian dream work: mechanisms of displacement and condensation are seen in relation to figurative elements found in Tscherkassky’s source material. Tscherkassky processes these in a manner that resembles Freud’s description of the compression (Pressung) of dream thoughts that takes place in the work of dreams, whereby “components are turned, crumble, and get pushed together, like drift ice”.
(Christa Blümlinger)
Just like in a real dream, Dream Work does not contain individual and unconnected images; although each image is radically arbitrary, the context is so compelling that an alternative is inconceivable. (Bert Rebhandl)