At first, the challenge was how to represent what has no representation. That was our first great challenge and what we initially came up with was to trace in the work of Lacan, Freud, and J.-A. Miller, possible references, images, figures that could go on a poster and that were references to the non-sexual relation. We were surprised to find several powerful quotes and images that could give epistemic support to what would be later the image of the Congress. We start from the back cover of Seminar XIX, arriving to the Freud’s Lecture XXVII. Finally, J.-A. Miller chose the image that we are all getting to know through the poster, which is the impossible encounter between a polar bear and a whale, which is also a reference that J.-A. Miller found in Freud’s Lecture XXVII.
E.S.: That theme ran through our work, not only with the reference to the bear and the whale, but also when we were thinking about others. We suggested the gauntlet and someone who had not read Seminar XXIII or who was approaching psychoanalysis for the first time, did not have to know what it was about. In fact, the designer questioned us about it. And how did this resonate with us? And how does someone who is approaching psychoanalysis for the first time receive this? And what we can say is that it is not only a bear and a whale, but there are also a series of winks that are present there, which are, for example, two animals that are walking on opposite sides.
D.A.: It seems to me that perhaps it is a question of why there are two different species, because it redoubles the impossibility of the encounter. Another interesting thing to say is that when, finally, the image was that of the polar bear and the whale, Iñaki Jankowski, who is the designer, suggested that they should not be archive images, because it was going to give a National Geographic poster effect. So, that’s why real objects were chosen and photographed in a photo shoot studio, not images of bears and whales from the animal kingdom.
E.S.: There are two things that I think are important to point out. We took a first batch of photos where, in principle, we had discarded the bear and the whale. The one who recovered them was J.-A. Miller, who returned, and asked us: why not? I think there is an intention, it is an interpretation, to reinforce the idea of encounter, of impossible encounter. We had chosen isolated objects. A glove, a peacock feather. J.-A. Miller reintroduces the pair with the bear and the whale.
D.A: And there is another anecdote that I am interested in highlighting, which we have not mentioned yet. There is a typographical treatment in how the aphorism is written. It is written in a particular way with a matching detail in all five languages, which is that “O” is sealed, enclosed, in white. In a meeting with Christiane Alberti, she thought it was wonderful. She says, “well, there’s an object,” that “O” that actually represents a hole, that’s why it is in white.
*Dolores Amden and Eugenia Serrano (EOL) members of the marketing
and social networks commission.
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Translated from Spanish by Renata Teixeira. / Proofreading: Jared Elwart
Mondō – Here we are with the graphic designer of the poster for the next WAP Congress, which will take place next year. Iñaki Jankowski, thank you very much for being here with us today. I would like to know briefly how you got to that result.
Iñaki Jankowski: It is bad marketing to begin with the function of the poster, because in some way it is what the different interlocutors of the Congress will go through. However, our premise was that the poster can highlight the Lacanian aphorism that is presented in this Congress, which has three parts. At least I detected that it could be disseminated in three main parts and that it could be maintained in the translations of that aphorism. As we had to make a system of five posters for five different regions, we had to check the comparison of the aphorism, its operation, and we detected that there were three remaining parts. In translations, there are sometimes dissonances in the terms, but in this case, there was a consonance, and I thought it was interesting to highlight that. The “there is no sexual relation” could be transposed to other languages in the same way and it seems to me that cutting the aphorism in those three sections also allowed to isolate the aphorism in different thematics.
What comes from behind, which is the image that the poster supports, was perhaps the most playful process, since I, Eugenia and Dolores had another premise, which was not to give answers to that aphorism. The aphorism is provocative; it indicates a statement that is the negation of sexual relation. So, we asked, what should be done? To give an answer to that aphorism or to leave the question open? As always, it seemed much richer not to respond with literality to the aphorism, but to generate a kind of strangeness in the poster.
I.J.: For me, it was important to understand that the poster was not going to show a human being. That seemed key to me because in that way we would be intervening in the singularities of each one, and it seems to me that this would be a possible response to the aphorism. I think that the literality of that has to do with finding those elements that function as metaphors, that it doesn’t matter for sure if the reader of the poster knows or doesn’t know the reference of that metaphor. However, it seems to me that it is something that gives the poster a life of its own, above and beyond, and it can be an excuse, a good excuse for the Congress itself to find and spread the poster from there. I am sure that during the Congress there will be a talk about the issue of images in psychoanalytic bibliography that allow us to account for and talk about the great provocation generated by the aphorism “There is no sexual relation”.
I.J.: I think that the poster has something particular that I like and I hope that someone can detect it, which has to do with how these images are arranged in the poster’s frame. The poster is a vertical rectangle that contains those elements that are literally disconnected. There is something about the direction of each element, as if they are leaving the poster. There are parts of those animals that are outside its frame, and it makes the completeness of each element not be present in the poster. That seemed to me much in line with the theme, with what is not present.
Translated from Spanish by Renata Teixeira. / Proofreading: Jared Elwart.
The Congress opens for us the dimension of encountering the greatest event of the WAP. From my perspective, the Congress is the opportunity we have to establish conversations between the members of the Schools that the WAP recognizes, and of those who approach us, who are trained with us, by us. It is the opportunity for an encounter in the five languages of the WAP, to be able to advance on topics that may not have been so developed and situated at the clinical level.
So, having the opportunity to encounter this major aphorism of Lacan, “there is no sexual relation”, as mysterious and as eloquent it is, is a unique opportunity for a world association like ours.
We have managed to include a multi-country, multi-lingual collaboration, where colleagues can work interoceanic, of course, thanks to the era of digital devices that help us. We have (language) equivoques, of course, which we have to clarify all the time.
For sure, the event contains a conversation that includes both, what has to do with the practice, the impasses of practice, inventions, and also what we can think about how to advance the analytic discourse to the extent that is possible for us, having these conversations among colleagues who are imbued daily with the Lacanian orientation.
The fundamental key is the work, the responsible and committed work of colleagues from all the Schools. We haven’t revealed much of what’s going to happen. Only now, in September, that we will start showing a little more of our tastes, our colored threads, our red thread that will lead us to the end of April in the next year, the beginning of May, for this unique and joyful encounter.
*Ricardo Seldes Director of the XV Congress of the WAP.
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Translated from Spanish by Renata Teixeira / Proofreading: Jared Elwart
On the executive board, colleagues are not necessarily in an organizational function or one of important relevance in the Schools but have experience in these major events of the WAP.
We are a little forced, in quotation marks, by the theme itself, because if we take ourselves too seriously, this “There is no…”, this “You can’t write” means that everything around it must be rewritten permanently. Therefore, entering that game that awakens your desire, awakens your wish.
I try to contribute with what I have learned, above all, working with colleagues from the WAP and perhaps, as mentioned earlier, about the style and what each one can contribute based on what they have been able to construct, to build. I like the construction of new ideas, of devices, of ways of organizing or thinking about things, because it seems to me that it is what is currently needed. We need solidity, of course, but we need invention as well. I think that it can make people want to travel, being curious to come and see what they offer, what colleagues are thinking about this theme that is impressive, the “There is no proportion…”, because you can’t say, you can’t write, not because of impotence, but because there is no signifier to be able to say it, it can only be skirted. It is an edge that does not cease to have to be rewritten every time. That’s why rewriting, reinvention, all that needs this open spirit like Ricardo’s and like that of the organizational committee in general.
*Anna Aromí (ELP), member of the executive board.
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Translated from Spanish by Renata Teixeira.
The invitation to be part of the executive board was a surprise because it did not cross my mind, my thoughts. I thought it might have an impact of formation for me. It was the best thing I could do when I received the invitation, but I also thought that this invitation and the formation event that happened to me needed to be tied to desire, to the desire to be able to make a good dissemination of our Congress together with my colleagues here in Brazil and the entire WAP. It seemed very important to me to have as many colleagues members of the School as possible, but also, in order to have a representative Congress, from those who have a transference to the Freudian Field, mainly students of the Institutes.
Our work is not a direct execution type of work; it is a type of work of consultancy. There is a whole amount of preparation done by colleagues who are directly involved in cartels to prepare the Congress.
Our meetings are not loose academic discussions but can have production and formation effects for each of us.
*Iordan Gurgel (EBP) member of the executive board.
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Translated from Spanish by Renata Teixeira.
The executive board is composed of representatives of each School and the director of the next WAP Congress, Ricardo Seldes, meets per his request to discuss various issues in preparation for the Congress. I draw the attention of the executive board to the particularities of the NLS, in particular to the place of young English-speakers at the Congress, as well as to a greater participation of NLS members and their groups in this international event.
I also highlights the specificities of the review Scilicet English version, for which I am the co-director. Since the NLS is a bilingual school, some of the texts are written in French, which involves an intense translation work; of all contributions for the Scilicet, only five texts were written in English.
*Ruzanna Hakobyan (NLS), member of the executive board of the XVth Congress
The aim of the preparatory activities is not to develop the theme in depth before the event, but rather to broaden the field, to identify the questions to avoid saturating the interest of potential participants. In preparation for the Congress, its direction team was equipped with several instruments that have been active for many months: the Scilicet, the Blog and the Bibliography. Preparation is done at the level of the School One and each School with its own particularity – the WAP thus respecting the diversity of the seven Schools. In addition, in each School, preparation is carried out both centrally and at a local level (regional delegations, communities, sites, etc.).
In each School, a correspondent has been appointed to work in close synergy with the members of the executive board.
In addition, a key moment of the Congress is the clinical day, where the presentation of cases allows for debate and collective elaboration on current practice. We expect from the series of cases that will be presented that they will be able to emphasize in its contemporary light the Lacanian syntagm “There is no sexual relation”.
*Victoria Horne Reinoso (ECF) member of the executive board.