On a foggy Saturday morning 20 bleary-eyed beings emerged from clusters of pods into a Bexhill auditorium.

This was no B-movie, but The Dream Director, an interactive installation by Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram.

All had spent the night in acoustically-dampened pods, during which bursts of sound were triggered in response to rapid eye movement (REM) – or dreaming – phases of sleep. And that morning everyone was asked to fill in a form to find out whether the sounds had altered their dreams.

A 15-minute “lullaby” had been played to help us drift off the previous night. Composer Dan Brown’s soothing medley included the distant whistle of a steam train, transporting me to a open plain at sunset – and sleep.

Despite quite an uncomfortable night, the print-out next morning showed that I had dreamed every 90 minutes, or the amount expected of all humans. Trouble was, I couldn’t recall much – just one bit of sound which had given me a vision of a sunny, yellow beach.

Not so for the others I spoke to over breakfast. They described vivid dreams such as being carried across the desert by hairy half-humans.

One person mentioned finding the experience both positive and relaxing – and told of dreams to match, such as meeting good friends in a pub.

Ultimately, University of Western England sleep psychologist Chris Alford – who helped develop the Dream Director – hopes such projects could lead to new ways of helping people with mental health problems.

But for me the experience was mixed. Although I didn’t like feeling under pressure to recount fantastic dreams, the introductory talks provided an insight into the subconscious mind.

It was also interesting to learn more about Luke Jerram’s brilliantly creative art – all of which centres around involving people in the creation of something stimulating and, in this case, possibly worthwhile.