Discomforts in Spec(tac)ular Culture: Critical Perspectives from Psychoanalysis

Under the title ‘Malestares na cultura espec(tac)ular: perspectivas críticas desde a psicanálise’, the Grupo de Estudos Audiovisuais (GEA) is organising a symposium on 12 and 13 June to address the breakdowns of contemporary subjectivities from an interdisciplinary approach that, from the common constellation of the psychoanalytic field, integrates audiovisual analysis, philosophical criticism and clinical orientation.

Francisco Conde, psychoanalyst and professor of Philosophy at the USC, will open the symposium on Wednesday 12th with a lecture entitled ‘The triumph of the Lacanian imaginary: from Oedipus to the selfie’. On the same day, Rosa Vázquez, also a psychoanalyst, will address the register of the symbolic and, more specifically, the repercussions of its decadence as it manifests itself in the field of the psychoanalytic-oriented clinic, with a lecture entitled: ‘The Lacanian orientation in the 21st century: decadence of the symbolic, new modalities of the symptom and the clinic of excess’.

The second session, on Thursday 13, will begin with the talk ‘The tyranny of beauty and the digital mask in social networks’, by Professor Antía López, member of the GEA, who will analyse the transformations of one’s own identity in the virtual audiovisual context. The symposium will close with the talk ‘Discomfort is not what you think it is. Freud and culture”, by Delmiro Rocha, lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities of the USC and philosopher specialising in the critique of culture and the notion of deconstruction formulated by Jacques Derrida.

The symposium is free to attend until full capacity is reached, but prior registration is required using the following form until Monday 10 June.