Laurence Rickels - Lectures / Workshops / Seminars
ON HAUNTED THOUGHT AND ART: Architectures of Loss (3 Credits)
Laurence Rickels, Ph.D. and Heinz Emigholz
Description: 'On Haunted Art and Thought: Architectures of Loss' deals with concepts such as the uncanny, building, dwelling, mourning, loss, and family relationships. This course deals examines psychoanalytic issues through the aesthetic and philosophical texts. Through examining Heinz Emigholz's experimental films which examine architecture as autobiography we begin the exploration of the self through structured constructions that inflict a sense of melancholy upon the viewer. We will examine notions of the split, doubling, repetition, memory, ghosts, murder, and suicide as they are processed within the human psyche. The films of Heinz Emigholz will be used to materialize the analysis of the affective and yet neglected everyday.
Objective: In this seminar students will become familiar with the work of Sigmund Freud's, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin and Franz Kafka. Through these works we will examine the role of lost objects, death, story-telling, the idea of androids, identification and death in the formation of the modern human psyche. We will investigate the construction of the familiar, as well as the techniques and modes of exposure to the familiar. We will begin to defamiliarize and confront the uncanny.
Required Readings:
Sigmund, Freud, David McLintock (Translator) and Hugh Haughton (Introduction). The Uncanny. Penguin Classics. 2003. Paperback, 240 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0142437476. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Heidegger, Martin. "Building, Dwelling, Thinking." in: Albert Hofstadter (Translator). Poetry, Language, Thought. Harper Perennial. 1976. Paperback, 256 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0060904305. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Benjamin, Walter. "The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov." in: Hannah Arendt (Editor, Introduction) and Harry Zohn (Translator). Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Schocken. 1969. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0805202412. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Dick, Philip K. Ubik. Vintage. 1991. Paperback, 224 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0679736646. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Kafka, Franz. "The Burrow." in: The Complete Stories. Schocken Books. 1995. 448 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0805210555. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Recommended Readings:
Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Martino Fine Books. June 8, 2010. Paperback, 98 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1578989264. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. W.W. Norton & Co. 1950. Paperback, Language English, ASIN: B000PX96TI. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Rickels, Laurence. The Case of California. University of Minnesota Press. 2001. Paperback, 373 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816638780. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Heidegger, Martin and William Lovitt (Translator). "The Question Concerning Technology." in: The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. Harpercollins. February 1982. Paperback, 224 Pages, Language English, ISBN: 0061319694. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Benjamin, Walter, M. Jennings, B. Dohert and T. Levin (Editors). The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility. Paperback, 426 pages, Language English, ISBN: 9780674024458. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Binswanger, Ludwig. Being-In-The-World: Selected Papers of Ludwig Binswanger. International Specialized Book Service Inc. June 1978. Paperback, 384 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0285647822. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Required Films:
Scott, Ridley (Director). Blade Runner. 1982. Starring Harrison Ford, DVD, 117 min, ASIN: B000UD0ESA. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Ulmer, Edgar G (Director). The Black Cat. Universal Studios. 1934. Starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop and Egon Brecher, VHS, 65 min, ASIN: 6302526191. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Lang, Fritz (Director). Metropolis. Paramount Pictures. 1927. Starring Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Fritz Rasp, VHS, 153 min, ASIN: B00007L4MI. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Films by Heinz Emigholz Films">Heinz Emigholz:
Schenec -Tady I. 1972/73.
Architecture as Autobiography: Sullivan's Banks 1993-2000.
Architecture as Autobiography: Maillart's Bridges 1995-2000.
The Holy Bunch 1986-1990.
D'Annunzio's Cave 2002-2005.
Hotel 1975-1976.
Demon 1976-1977.
HAUNTED THOUGHT AND ART: (3 Credits)
Laurence Rickels, Ph.D. and Sue de Beer
Description: In this course we will examine Haunted Art and Thought. In Archive Fever Jacques Derrida showed how Freud managed to have it both ways: the ghost is the placeholder for the unthought, which Freud works with and through, and the ghost is reality checked as symptomatic psychic occurrence. With Hamlet we set the stage for haunting as the new frontier for the secular mind that must fill in the blanks of the withdrawal of Christianity’s dominion, but without foregoing finitude. In addition, we will consider ghosts in Freud, Ibsen, and Henry James. Our study of ghosts in theory and fiction frames the workshop with artist Sue de Beer, whose video installations cite or summon ghosts from the interior of haunted writing.
Objectives: Students shall leave this course with a haunted theoretical gaze that informs psychoanalytic research and artistic projects. As we explore the realms of unthought we will continually embrace the figure of the ghost. This course will inform students knowledge of theory and literature through the hazy gaze of the ghost.
Required Readings:
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Simon & Schuster. 2003. Paperback, 400 pages, Language English, ISBN: 074347712X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. Nabu. 2010. Paperback, 208 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1141512556. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
James, Henry. "The Turn of the Screw." in: The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Stories. Signet Classics. 2007. Paperback, 464 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0451530675. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Freud, Sigmund. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud: Jensen's "Gradiva" and Other Works v.9: Jensen's "Gradiva" and Other Works Vol 9. Vintage. 2001. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0099426625. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Gale ECCO. 2010. Paperback, 120 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1170626998. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Ibsen, Henrik. Rosmersholm. Nabu. 2010. Paperback, 310 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1148405615. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Freud, Sigmund. "Some Character-types Met With In Psychoanalytical Work" (1916).
Recommended Readings:
Derrida, Jacques. Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, The Work of Mourning & the New International. Routledge. May 25, 2006. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0415389577. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Derrida, Jacques and Eric Prenowitz (Translator). Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. University Of Chicago Press. January 1, 1997. Hardcover, 128 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0226143368. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Paperback, ISBN: 0226143678. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Collector's Library. 2010. Hardcover, 412 pages, Language English, ISBN: 7805670765. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
ACCIDENTAL PERFORMANCE ART & VIDEO: The Structure of the Accident. (3 credits)
Laurence Rickels, Ph.D.
Description: This course examines the world of performance art and video. We will engage a critical analysis of the accidental structure and underworld happening involved in literature, performance and video art. An invited artist demonstrates the transformative processes involved. Through working with the concept of accident we will explore performance as an organic experience, and attempt to uncover its structures.
Required Readings:
Rickels, Laurence. Acting Out in Groups. University of Minnesota Press. 1999. Paperback, 232 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816633215. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Rickels, Laurence. Ulrike Ottinger: The Autobiography of Art Cinema. University of Minnesota Press. July 28, 2008. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816653313. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Recommended Readings:
Rickels, Laurence. "By Mourning’s Light. Laurence A. Rickels on True Blood." in: Artforum. October 2009. (English).
Rickels, Laurence and Samuel Webers. "On a Role - Laurence Rickels talks to Samuel Weber." in: Flash Art. No. 213, 2000, p. 69. (English).
Rickels, Laurence and Nancy Barton. "Interview With The Vampire - Nancy Barton talks with Laurence Rickels." in: Flash Art. No. 210, 2000, p. 59. (English).
Rickels, Laurence and Brigitte Weingart. "Teenage Werwolf." in: SPEX. October 1997. (German).
Rickels, Laurence and Gregory Ulmers. "Theory On TV: Gadget Goes to Florida." in: Artforum. January 1996, pp. 68-71. (English).
Rickels, Laurence and Michel Serres. "Theory on TV: Making a Killing - Laurence A. Rickels talks with Michel Serres." in: Artforum International. Vol. 33, No. 8, 1995, p. 82. (English).
FILM AND PSYCHOANALYSIS (3 Credits)
Laurence Rickels, Ph.D.
Description: This course examines the relationship between film and psychoanalysis.
Required Readings:
Ottinger, Ulrike. Image Archive: Photographs 1970-2005. ISBN: 3938821159. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Warburg, Aby. Images from the Region of the Pueblo Indians of North America. ISBN: 0801484359. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.