Arts & Psychoanalysis
Some years ago, at an Alliance Board retreat, the members characterized the Alliance’s function as that of a “potential space” - an organization that would generate new ideas and projects. One of the results of that session was the Arts & Psychoanalysis Committee. That committee, along with some other groups that are linked with the Alliance, has also worked as a potential space for me: the dream seminar that Terry Hanson and I have been leading for several years now, and the movement group that generated Jeanne Castle and Kris Wheeler’s workshop at the Forum last May. Interestingly, the committee has become a potential space in its own right, sponsoring new activities and projects that will evolve in the coming year.
Arts & Psychoanalysis Committee sponsored events for 2007-2008:
Our “signature event”, the Potential Space arts night itself, will be held at the Center for Urban Horticulture, Saturday evening, November 17. (See Carol Poole's article in this issue).
Elizabeth Clark Stern, the author of Out of the Shadows: A Story of Toni Wolff and Emma Jung, has written a new play titled Nana Sofia's Oasis. She and Robert Bergman will play the leads. We heard a bit of Elizabeth’s new work at last year's Potential Space and will hear another scene from it this year. The Alliance will sponsor a fuller reading or production in the spring of 2008.
Our film series will have a new design this year. We have asked five local clinicians with an interest in film to choose a film that they would enjoy discussing with others. The clinician who chooses the film will then lead the discussion with the audience after the screening. (As coordinator of the film series, I have the privilege of choosing a sixth film.) The discussions will continue to focus on our emotional experience of the film. The films will be shown at COR Northwest Family Development Center (our co-sponsor) on third Friday evenings, October through April, with the exception of October, when it will be the second Friday, and December, when there will be no screening.
The series will begin with one of the most discussion-exciting films I have ever seen: Von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others, on October 12, with Ladson Hinton leading the discussion. We will continue with Alejandro Inarritu’s Babel on November 16, with Karol Marshall as discussion leader; Aki Kaurismaki’s The Man Without a Past on January 18, when I will lead the discussion; Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (tentative) on February 15, with Cecile Bassen as discussion leader; Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night on March 21, with Robert Bergman as discussion leader; and end the series with Adam Egoyan’s Exotica on April 18. with Maxine Nelson leading the discussion. We've lowered the price a bit this year (to $8), and made the series price very attractive, ($30 for the six films). All tickets, including series tickets, will be sold at the door only. The films begin at 7 pm.
This year we will again sponsor workshops exploring the arts. We're beginning with a movement workshop led by Jeanne Castle on October 6, entitled “Moving Presence: exploring embodiment through movement and language”, and this workshop may well give rise to a series that will continue in winter and spring.
The Committee continues to be available to consult with Alliance members about an arts & psychoanalysis related project they want to develop. If (or when) you have an idea, please call or email any member of the committee: Kris Wheeler, Carol Poole, Terry Hanson, Jeanne Castle, Joseph Canarelli and myself.
