JOSH COHEN: Psychoanalysis, Art and the Logic of Indifference

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015 / 8-10 p.m.
The New School, 63 5th Avenue, Room 200

Josh Cohen is Professor of Modern Literary Theory at Goldsmiths University of London and a psychoanalyst in private practice. He is the author of numerous articles and four books on psychoanalysis, modern literature and cultural theory, most recently How to Read Freud and The Private Life:Why We Remain in the Dark.

Psychoanalysis, Art and the Logic of Indifference
Beginning from Freud’s invocation of the ‘Nirvana principle’ and later psychoanalytic conceptions of the negative, this talk will explore the place of lassitude, uselessness and indifference in both aesthetic and clinical practice. Drawing on a range of artists and theorists beyond Freud and psychoanalysis, including Warhol, Emin, Blanchot and Bataille, as well as pop culture (The Big Lebowski, The Simpsons) it will raise some provoking questions about the place and of art in a culture increasingly driven by the imperative to banish the negative from our horizons.