Jennifer Friedlander, professor of media studies at Pomona College and the 2020–21 Fulbright-Freud Visiting Lecturer of Psychoanalysis, will present a public lecture at the Sigmund Freud Museum titled "Repeating The Square: From Satisfaction to Jouissance."
Abstract: Ruben Östlund’s 2017 Palme D’or winning film, The Square, is routinely characterized as a “satire” of the contemporary art world, and in particular, of the film’s titular art exhibit. This talk considers the question of the psychoanalytic and political implications of Östlund’s ruthless cinematic caricature of his own (self-declared) successful real-life art installation of the same name. It argues that the repetition of The Square from an apparently sincere artwork aimed at building social cohesion to a satire of the self-serving political aspirations of contemporary art unleashes the politically destabilizing dimension of the Other’s jouissance that is constrained by The Square’s original iteration as art installation.
This free event will be held in person. Please register with the Sigmund Freud Museum in either German or English.