20th Annual Day in Applied Psychoanalysis

Between Hours: Interdisciplinary Dialogues, Applied Psychoanalysis Programme of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society, presents the

20th Annual Day in Applied Psychoanalysis

Precarious Beauty: The Aesthetic Conflict in Art and Psychoanalysis

An inspiring day of presentations by artists in dialogue with analysts.

Jane McAdam Freud, Meg Harris Williams, Joseph Fernando and Louis Brunet

Saturday, October 3, 2015, 9 am – 4 pm

Early Registration (register by August 1, 2015): $150
At the door (or after August 1, 2015): $165
Full time Students: $75 early registration, $85 after August 1, 2015 (*Proof of 2015/2016 status in universities and colleges needs to be provided, see below.)

The George Ignatief Theatre, University of Toronto
15 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ontario

 
This year’s annual event welcomes acclaimed British Artists with psychoanalytic ancestry from Freud to the post Kleinians – Jane McAdam Freud and Meg Harris Williams – to reflect with us, through the medium of their respective work in sculpture and life drawings, on the impact of the ambiguity of the aesthetic object in driving curiosity and the development of a thinking/feeling mind. Meg Harris Williams will expound on the Meltzerian concept of the aesthetic conflict as a developmental construct originating in the emotional tension of the infant’s attraction to and fear of the present mother and re-experienced through life in coming into contact with a ‘new idea,’ as it applies to both the artistic and psychoanalytic process. Both artists will engage in dialogue with Toronto analysts of Freudian and Kleinian persuasions for an integrative discussion on this aesthetic dimension of psychic life.

Jane McAdam Freud, MA (RCA), FRBS, Fellow of the Royal British Sculpture Society, is an acclaimed British sculptor and multi-disciplinary artist who makes 2D prints and drawings, 3D sculpture and medals, and 4D films. The recipient of many international awards, Jane McAdam Freud has exhibited internationally and her works are represented in national collections worldwide. She is Associate Lecturer at Central St Martins: University of the Arts, London and teaches at Morley College, London. Great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and daughter of Lucian Freud, Jane McAdam Freud’s work focuses on the meeting of Art and Psychoanalysis.

Joseph Fernando, MD, Training and Supervising Analyst, Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis, will then engage in dialogue with Jane McAdam Freud on the themes inherent in her work as they pertain to the aesthetic conflict.

Dr. Fernando has published papers on guilt, narcissism, the character of the exception. His recent book, The Processes of Defense, won the 2010 Gradiva prize for a book on psychoanalytic theory. He is at present working on two projects: a more detailed exploration of aspects of the zero process and trauma, and a book on psychoanalysis and human evolution.

Meg Harris Williams, PhD, visual artist and a literary critic, writes about the relation between psychoanalysis, aesthetics and literature. She has published widely on interdisciplinary lines, including The Apprehension of Beauty (with Donald Meltzer), The Chamber of Maiden Thought, The Vale of Soulmaking, The Aesthetic Development: The Poetic Spirit of Psychoanalysis, and Bion’s Dream. She is chair of Borderlands Artists Consortium in the UK and lectures internationally and at the Tavistock Clinic, London. Her presentation will be on how the ‘aesthetic conflict’ “relates to artistic process, and illuminates the sense in which psychoanalysis can be considered an art form:”

Louis Brunet, PhD, Psychoanalyst and Psychologist, President of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society, will discuss the paper and dialogue with Meg Harris Williams on the topic of the Aesthetic Conflict as it pertains to development and psychoanalytic process.

Prof. Brunet is Professor and ex-Director of the Psychology Department, Université du Québec à Montréal. He is the author of 7 books, 26 chapters, and 96 papers, and has published widely on individual and mass violence, archaic psychic organizations, projective identification, and the containing function. He is also invited professor at Université Lumière Lyon and Université Paris 5.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will:

1. Become familiar with the construct of the aesthetic conflict as a developmental driving force originating in infancy
2. Understand its role in facilitating the development of a thinking/feeling mind
3. Learn about the function of the aesthetic conflict in artistic and psychoanalytic process
4. Appreciate the ongoing impact of this inner conflict in furthering symbolic development

Programme

8:30 am – Registration

9:00 am – Welcome and Introductions

9:10 am – Jane McAdam Freud: From the crescent to the whole of the moon

10:10 am – Coffee Break

10:30 am – Joseph Fernando will respond and converse with Jane Mc Adam Freud

11:15 pm – Open Discussion with the audience

12:00 pm – Lunch ~ a light lunch will be served in the Buttery

1:00 pm – Meg Harris Williams: The Aesthetic Conflict as it relates to the artistic process and an illumination of how psychoanalysis may be considered an art form.

2:00 pm – Short break

3:45 pm – Louis Brunet will respond and dialogue with Meg Harris Williams

3:45 pm – Open Panel and Audience Discussion

3:45 pm – Closing Remarks

Organizing Committee

Vivienne Pasieka, PhD Chair
Keith Haartmann, PhD Co-Chair
Gavril Hercz, MD
John Iddiols, EdD
Sarb Mann, MSW
Jon Novick, MD
Mandisa Nkungu, FRCPC

This interdisciplinary event will invite audience discussion, will be of interest to professionals and students of the Humanities and Health Professions alike, and is open to the public at large.

Image by Meg Harris Williams