Special Event: Why do moths fly like crazy f*cks in the night? The Creative Impulse as Seen Through the Lens of Louise Bourgeois

*** THIS EVENT IS IN-PERSON ONLY. SEATING IS LIMITED.***

Special Event: ‘Why do moths fly like crazy fucks in the night’: The Creative Impulse as Seen Through the Lens of Louise Bourgeois

Saturday, November 9, 2024

7:00 – 9:30 PM (EST)

Marianne and Nicholas Young Auditorium  |  247 East 82nd Street, NYC (Second Fl)

Artist: Sue Pam-Grant, M.F.A.

Panelists: Britt-Marie Schiller, Ph.D., Luca Caldironi, M.D. and Lois Oppenheim, Ph.D. (moderator)

Sue Pam-Grant presents “why do moths fly like crazy fucks in the night?,” an encounter with the inner workings of the mind of Louise Bourgeois, a prolific French-American artist of the 20th century.  A writer, actor, and visual artist, Pam-Grant takes the audience on an exciting interdisciplinary journey reflecting on Bourgeois’ psychic life. Well-versed in psychoanalytic literature and concepts, as well as a long-term analysand, Bourgeois used psychoanalytic concepts to inspire her art over the course of many years. Utilizing art as a means of self-exploration, Bourgeois’ artworks reflect her inner struggles with abandonment, misogyny, sexuality, fear, and anger. Bourgeois’ complex relationship with creativity and psychoanalysis sets the scene for an interesting consideration of art, mental health, and the relationship between them.

Following Sue Pam-Grant’s performance, there will be a panel discussion with two psychoanalysts who have long been devoted to the visual arts. Britt-Marie Schiller, Ph.D. and Luca Caldironi, M.D. will each present a paper discussing psychoanalytic considerations of creativity from various perspectives (Freudian, Bionian, etc.). One of the panelists, Dr. Schiller, an analyst in private practice in St. Louis, has written extensively on psychoanalysis and art. She has published in JAPA articles that consider the art of Louise Bourgeois, whose making of art is the focus of the performance, from various analytic perspectives. The other panelist, Dr. Caldironi, has also written numerous articles on artistic creativity and, in addition to maintaining his private analytic practice, is the founder/owner of an art gallery in Venice.  The discussion will raise clinicians’ awareness of the origins of creativity as related to mental health as well as the ways creative practice may improve mental health.

1.25 Contact Hours. 1.25 CME/CE credits will be offered. See details below.

Lois Oppenheim, Ph.D., Program Committee Chair

General Admission: $60

Student Admission: $45

Current NYPSI members: $30

Current NYPSI students: $15

Please note registration closes at 5 PM on Thursday, November 7.

REGISTRATION LINK

PROGRAM

I. Performance by Sue Pam-Grant

II. Panel Discussion

III. Q & A Session with the Audience

OPTIONAL READING

Schiller, B. (2017). The Primitive Edge of Creativity: Destruction and Reparation in Louise Bourgeois’s Art. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 65:221-250.

Schiller, B. (2018). Hair, Threads, and Umbilical Cords: Louise Bourgeois’s Dream of Connection. Psychoanalytic Review, 105:657-673.

Schiller, B. (2020). Fantasies of Cannibalism in the Art of Louise Bourgeois. American Imago, 77:365-393.

BIOGRAPHIES

Sue Pam-Grant, M.F.A. is a transdisciplinary artist whose expanded performative drawing practice intersects the visual with theatre art-making practices. Making use of autobiography, her process of mining, mapping, and tracking the self to examine the precarious point at which human fragility and resilience meet, has become her signature mark. In addition to being a visual artist, Pam-Grant is a published playwright and theatre director who has achieved international recognition for her highly acclaimed performance art. She curates and directs her performative STUDIO GALLERY space, “no.3 SPG,” in Cape Town, and her archive of works comprises numerous plays, public and immersive installations, assemblages, artist’s books, video and film, online publications, and solo exhibitions of drawings, etchings and paintings. Sue Pam-Grant’s “why do moths fly like crazy fucks in the night” received a nomination for Best Solo Performance in the prestigious South African Fleur du Cap Awards in February 2024. 

Britt-Marie Schiller, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Webster University in Saint Louis. Dr. Schiller has been Head of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education of APsA and is now a North American representative to the Board of the IPA, as well as on its Executive Committee. In her writing she has focused on gender and sexuality, and on art seen through a psychoanalytic lens. Her latest paper,  “Figurability in the Art of Louise Bourgeois,” is in the September issue of American Imago.  She continues to be fascinated by Louise Bourgeois’s ability to delve into pre-symbolic and unformulated modes of psychic experience and artistically harness them. 

Luca Caldironi, M.D. is in private psychoanalytic practice in Modena and Venice, Italy. He works as well in the U.S. as an Individual and Group Professional Consultant. Dr. Caldironi is a Professor and Training Analyst at the Martha Harris School of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Tavistock Model) in Bologna and on the board of The International Association for Art and Psychology (IAAPs) founded in 2000 by the late Graziella Magherini, M.D. His numerous publications and presentations reflect an emphasis on Bion’s thought, especially with regard to the notion of “creativity,” a notion evident in the exhibitions and related activities at the gallery known as Castello925 which he founded in Venice. Most recently, Dr. Caldironi has developed the project known as “K-Now-L-Edge,” a psychoanalytically informed project devoted to the study and practice of creativity by people seeking to deepen their understanding of self while enhancing their creative talents and professional opportunities.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Educational Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

1. Summarize how Louise Bourgeois’ life and artworks offer insight into the autistic-contiguous mode of organizing experience and the origins of creativity.
2. Describe how creativity contributes to patient care in psychoanalysis.

Psychologists

New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY – 0073.

New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education programs for psychologists. New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content. DISCLOSURE: None of the planners and presenters of this CE program has any relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Social Workers

New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW – 0317.