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Talk: The Psyche, the Artist, and Aesthetics as Spaces of Refuge

@ Laing Art Gallery

An illuminating talk by Dr Dariusz Gafijczuk, (Lecturer in Sociology, Newcastle University) explores Sigmund Freud’s concept of art as a space of refuge as it relates to artworks in the Out of Chaos exhibition.

According to Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychoanalytic movement, the difference between the artist and a neurotic is that the artist has the ability to return to reality after leaving its confines in search of expression. This talk will examine the relationship between art, aesthetics, and the notion of seeking refuge, which in the case of the artists represented here, is both physical but just as importantly, psychological. By exploring the setting of Vienna 1900 and Freud’s early attempts at stabilizing the chaos of modern culture, I will reflect on art as a space of refuge – a form of fleeting reflection on real chaos – social, cultural, and political.