Till January 2011…

Another excellent year, with fascinating work by students and a lot of psychoanalytic thinking. May this continue in 2011. Till then, make sure you dream and interpret.

Mirror at Marienbad

A Lexicon from Liminality

Here’s an invite for a show from an MRes graduate, whom I had the pleasure to supervise. Hope you can make it because her work is spellbinding.

Half Knowledge/Half …

An exhibition of work by researchers (including me!).

Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, Scott Street, Glasgow
16-28 April 2010
You are cordially invited to the Private View of the show, which will take place on Friday 16th April, at 6pm.

For James

You may find the April issue of ArtReview interesting, especially Ming Wong‘s reconstruction of Visconti’s Death in Venice..

ArtReview-April 2010

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Sophisticated Boom Boom (in b&w)

If you happen to be in London…

Sharon Kivland, from the series Reisen, 2009–10, silverprint, 20mm x 86mm

DOMOBAAL Private View: Friday 9 April 6–8pm

Sophisticated Boom Boom (in b&w)
09.04.10 – 15.05.10
Private View: Friday 9 April 6–8pm

Domo Baal is delighted to present ‘Sophisticated Boom Boom (in b&w)’ an exhibition by Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Peter Linde Busk, Stephen Dunne, Lothar Götz, Heide Hinrichs, Steve Johnson, Sharon Kivland, Ansel Krut, Jeffrey TY Lee, Siân Pile, Felicity Powell, Mark Prince, Lizi Sanchez, Shaan Syed, and Mhairi Vari.

To those concerned with beauty and truth, the world can seem an ugly place. You’re backed up against the wall and Shangri–la is ever so far. It’s getting mighty late, so go on, abandon your date and follow the white rabbit in, out of the grey.

Peter Linde Busk likes the deviant, folk art, children’s drawings and Pablo Picasso: This is me, yo, right here. Stephen Dunne doesn’t believe in black magic or voodoo dolls, he can’t cast spells, and he certainly can’t break them. But I’m not going to start explaining the twist in my gut or the tickle I’ve had in my throat for the past few weeks. And I don’t want to talk about the little locks trimmed from my hair while I sleep. I just don’t want to talk about it. In Ailbhe Ní Bhriain’s work serial experimentation and failure collapses into new possibilities using methods most usually reserved for post–production; layered videos construct new fictional worlds, ones which we know to be impossible yet somehow evoke back–rooms we are sure we once glimpsed behind the curtain. Sharon Kivland frames details of the smoke of steam engines in a homage to Freud and his brother Alex, who was able to reel off pan–European train timetables with startling alacrity. Since I could only see the headlight of the locomotive in the distance, I had no idea until the flash had gone off. I never expected it. Never aimed for it. All I wanted was to get some nice pictures. Of trains. (O. Winston Link). Jeffrey TY Lee presents a forest scene with figures and a deer lying on the ground; a dog in the middle foreground and a deer among the grass to the right. Here there is neither object nor subject but rather a state of indeterminate in–between. All is Pretence for Lizi Sanchez who juxtaposes the formal and the rigorous with the decorative, always challenged by frivolous additional detail, opening up considerations of purpose and function. A sculpture in its Easter Bonnet. Siân Pile gets lost The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. (Laurie Lee, Cider with Rosie). Shaan Syed pitches iconic black with its opposite extremes, engaging the language of spectacle in paintings that can also be read as landscape. Heide Hinrichs charts the way language shapes experience and perception. Her subtle transformations of used soccer balls re–imagines the objects as fragments existing within a larger system of relationships and perspectives: Miandra, Alyse, David, Jeff, Nolan, and Blake: America is bigger than the summer of your individual ambitions. Steve Johnson’s continuing investigation into places for storytelling and revelry, places of retreat and escape takes him into the cinema: Everyday’s like a film with no script. Ansel Krut is a past master at making vitriolic drawings that tap into the vein of discomfort running just beneath the skin; oscillating at ease between the cruel and the comic. Mark Prince undertakes a lengthy process of layering and erasure, using a method of imagined hand–writing and repeated drawing to create an image that proposes a suggestion of personal narrative, landscape and discovery. Felicity Powell’s figurative imagery is suffused with subtle and macabre humour; the images have the wonder and strangeness of exhibits from a cabinet of curiosities. Mhairi Vari’s consistently playful engagement with the properties of her chosen materials continues to yield fantastical, borderline sinister results; intricately carving the most precious and poisonous element into the base utensils of manual labour: nails, screws, lynchpins, one milk and two sugars please, in black and white. Lothar Götz’s black and white is colour.

With many thanks for the music to the Shangri–Las

DOMOBAAL
3 JOHN STREET LONDON WC1N 2ES
T+44 20 7242 9604 M+44 7801703871
THURSDAY TO SATURDAY 12 TO 6PM
INFO@DOMOBAAL.COM WWW.DOMOBAAL.CO

Jacques Lacan Today

Jacques Lacan Today

I’ll be going to this one, as the speakers are excellent and it is Lacan specific (my favourite!). It is very cheap for full time students, only £35. Bargain for 1.5 days of Lacan!

JACQUES LACAN TODAY
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th May 2010
Cruciform Building, University College London

Jacques Lacan was a revolutionary figure of the twentieth century. As a clinician his ability to “make do” with a poor explanation led him to consider and explore all models available and in turns he used biological psychiatry, genetic psychology, philosophy, structural liguistics, anthropology and even mathematics to cross-fertilise psychoanalysis. The result was extraordinary and its richness has attracted students in fields far from psychoanalysis.

Unfortunately, the controversies surrounding his working life and the strong passions that he engendered in his followers and detractors have made it quite difficult to discover what he actually said: Lacan became mythologised, even during his lifetime. The twentieth century is now long gone and it is reasonable to reassess Lacan’s work away from the passions that may have blurred the judgement of many. Was it worth it? This conference will aim to demonstrate that Lacan’s work is still surprisingly modern and more importantly, useful. Clinicians engaged in the arduous task of treating patients, academics and even artists find in Lacan tools to improve their practice.

The conference will be divided into three sections aimed at different groups. The first session will be directed towards those who are curious to learn more about Lacan but are true beginners. Speakers in this session will explore some central aspects of Lacanian theory. In the second session, academics from different disciplines will explain Lacan’s continuing relevance within their field of practice. The third session will be directed towards practitioners and will explore the use of Lacanian concepts within a clinical setting.

Speakers will include: Lionel Bailly (University College London), Bernard Burgoyne (Middlesex University), Kirsten Campbell (Goldsmiths, University of London), Lorenzo Chiesa (University of Kent), Jason Glynos (University of Essex), John Phillips (National University of Singapore) and Alain Vanier (Universite Paris VII)

Click here to download a booking form, to book online, to view the conference flyer and to see the provisional programme.

Another call for papers

This one was forwarded to me by one of the students in last year’s course. She presented at the Middlesex conference and you can see she made lots of very nice friends The centre for psychoanalytic studies in Essex is great. Multidisciplinarity is embraced and psychoanalytic ideas are critically discussed, so plenty of space for the creative disciplines!

CALL FOR PAPERS

CRITICAL WORK IN PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES:
A POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE

HELD BY

THE CENTRE FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Thursday, May 27th to Friday, May 28th

The Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, is pleased to announce “Critical Work in Psychoanalytic Studies: A Postgraduate Conference”.

The Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies (CPS) is a world class research centre committed to cutting edge work in psychoanalysis, and fostering dialogue between the various schools of depth psychology. It promotes a multidisciplinary approach, recognizing the value of both hermeneutical and clinical projects.

Postgraduate students are invited to submit proposals for presentations on depth psychology (in the Freudian or Jungian tradition) and the application of depth psychological theory to academic disciplines including (but not confined to), sociology, history, biography, literature, art history, myth, psychology, psychosocial studies, religious studies and philosophy. Clinical papers from the perspective of any one of the depth psychological schools – exploring any aspect of the clinical encounter – are most welcome.

This two-day conference – which includes the annual Freud Memorial Lecture – will offer postgraduate researchers an opportunity to discuss their ideas with both CPS students and staff members in a dynamic and intellectually stimulating environment. Papers will also have respondents assigned to them. Our aim is to provide participants with an enriching experience where dialogue and networking are promoted.

The conference will be held at the Colchester campus of the University of Essex (for map and travel details, see http://www.essex.ac.uk/visiting/). For more details of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, please visit our pages here http://www.essex.ac.uk/centres/psycho/.

Submitting an Abstract

The Programme Committee welcomes proposals in English and not exceeding 300 words. Along with your proposal, please include the following information:

 Full name
 Full mailing address and email address
 Contact telephone numbers
 Institution (professional body or university) including position or membership
 If a candidate or trainee in a clinical training program, indicate which training body
 Please indicate any technical needs such as PowerPoint, DVD, CD player, flipchart, overhead projector etc.

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes, to be followed by a 10 minute period for a formal response and discussion.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 24 March.

You will be notified of the acceptance of your abstract by 9 April.

Queries, registration forms and abstracts should be sent to all three members of the Programme Committee:

Christina Sjöström ccsjos@essex.ac.uk
Kevin Lu klu@essex.ac.uk
Matt ffytche mffytche@essex.ac.uk

The Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
C04 3SQ
United Kingdom