Conference: The Art of Madness

The Art of Madness A Study Weekend in New York
Friday to Sunday, April 27-29, 2012
Fordham University

Lacan famously said that “le fou est l’homme libre” (“the madman is the free man”) and that there is a “pathologie de la liberté” (“a pathology of freedom”). How should we understand these words in the current cultural climate of constant surveillance? Does creativity exist as a realm of freedom outside of such social constraints? If so, how is it related to madness. What is la folie? Does what we call la folie differ from madness? In English mad means angry as well as crazy. Does the English mad resonate differently from its French counterpart? How is madness or folie to be distinguished from psychosis? Does “madness” involve the drive? How are we to think of folie in and out of the clinic? The study weekend will feature papers and discussions on madness and creativity from a Lacanian clinical perspective. Discussion topics will include the relation of madness to art; the aesthetics of the symptom; interpretation and expression; the art of psychotherapy; the clinician’s work as art; and the art of madness. For information about the study weekend,

Please Contact:
Manya Steinkoler, manyasteinkoler@att.net
Patricia Gherovici, pgherovici@aol.com
Dan Collins, dcollins716@verizon.net

Scheduled to speak:
Richard Boothby, Nestor Braunstein, Shanna Carlson, Fred Casale, Marilyn Charles, Dan Collins, Olga Cox-Cameron, Guy Dana, Todd Dean, Martine Fourré, Michael Garfinkle, Patricia Gherovici, Martin Harries, Reine Henaff-Cohen, Shannon Kelly, Juliet MacCannell, Paola Mieli, Genevieve Morel, Chrysanthi Nigianni, Dany Nobus, Ray O’Neill, Jean-Michel Rabate, Tom Ratekin, Bill Richardson, Ed Robins, Mark Stafford, Manya Steinkoler, Barbara Tholfsen, Jamieson Webster, Stephen Whitworth, Angela Woods.