The Decaying Female Body in Horror Cinema with Mary Wild

The Decaying Female Body in Horror Cinema with Mary Wild

Sunday, August 20
2 pm ET

Relying on Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection, this talk investigates representations of decaying female bodies in cinema. Kristeva defines horror as a breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of boundaries between self and other. The abject disturbs identity, borders and rules – horror films portraying unclean and taboo elements of womanhood reveal the entwined dual system of Eros (beauty, fertility, youth) and Thanatos (disease, destruction, death).

Films discussed: Braindead (1992) dir. Peter Jackson; Contracted (2013) dir. Eric England; Eat (2014) dir. Jimmy Weber

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London. She co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and creates exclusive content on Patreon. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @psycstar.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

The Future of Occulture, Magic, and Underground Networking: A Conversation With Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson

The Future of Occulture, Magic, and Underground Networking: A Conversation With Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, July 16
2 pm ET

Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson were both active in the magical order/ think tank / occultural network Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) in the mid 1980s to early 1990s. 

In this conversation they talk not only about what happened and what kind of an impact TOPY has had, but also try to entangle what the ideas and concepts could bring for the future of occulture, magic and underground networking.

Tom Banger In 1986, punk promoter Tom Headbanger confounded the Denver scene by founding the Temple ov Psychick Youth North America. Over the next four odd years, he wrote numerous texts on contemporary magick and shamanism under the name Coyote *2 and helped facilitate the coming together of an unprecedented collaborative network of artists, magicians, shamans, and charlatans. During this time, TOPYUS published more than a thousand pages of original occult research, including Television Magick and the first two editions of EsoTerrorist by Genesis P-Orridge. Banger stopped coordinating TOPYUS in 1990 in order to focus on his interest in engineering and technology. He is now a full-time cybersecurity expert and father, and has decided it is time to come out of the shadows and share some stories and perspective.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher and filmmaker. His books include Source Magic(2023), Codex Nordica (2022), Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Different People (2021), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Occulture (2018), Mother, Have a Safe Trip (2016) and The Fenris Wolf series. His films include Reseduction (2022), My Silent Lips (2019), Lunacy (2017), Sub Umbra Alarum Luna (2016) and the An Art Apart series. His publishing company is Trapart Books, Films and Editions.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

Angels, Demons, and Ketamine: Occultist Chaweon Koo in Conversation with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Online Talk · Angels, Demons, and Ketamine: Occultist Chaweon Koo in Conversation with Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, June 11
2 pm ET

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent on the day of the event to the email address used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Mysticism often involves sacred plants and mind-altering substances to aid in ritual journeying. The futurist version may also involve brain hacking via ketamine, mixed with the chaos magick and animism inherent in intense psychology modalities like EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

Occultist and writer Chaweon Koo joins Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamson to discuss where bio-hacking, 8 esoteric body circuits, a scientist who talks to dolphins, and modern modes of inner journeying and magick intertwine.

Chaweon Koo is a writer at the intersection of pop culture, the occult, and futurism. Her TikTok @chaweonkoo is one of the most popular occult accounts on the platform. She also interviews some of the most distinguished occultists and witches in the English-speaking world on her YouTube, Witches & Wine. Her book Spell Bound details her journey from an atheist witch into one of the most visible East Asian practitioners of both Eastern and Western occult traditions.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

Image: Dorothea Tanning, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1946

Harnessing the Magic and Creative Power of the Cut-up Method a la William Burroughs, David Bowie, Genesis P-Orridge, Led by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Harnessing the Magic and Creative Power of the Cut-up Method a la William Burroughs, David Bowie, Genesis P-Orridge, Led by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, beginning September 10

Date: September 10, 17, 24, October 1.
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.

The cut-up method was originally discovered by Dada instigator Tristan Tzara. In his 1920 manifesto To Make a Dadaist Poem he teaches us how to create what he called “accidental poems” by cutting words from a newspaper, putting them all into a hat, shaking the contents, and pulling them one by one to create poetry by chance.

At the Beat Hotel in Paris in 1958, creative partners William Burroughs and Brion Gysin rediscovered the cut-up method and elaborated upon it, moving from wordplay to audio recording, film, painting, collage, and further iterations. Gysin and Burroughs had been immersed in the magic of Morocco when they spent time with Paul and Jane Bowles in Tangier, and began to see the magical aspects inherent in their cut-up methodology.

David Bowie collided with William Burroughs and integrated the cut-up method into his way of writing song lyrics. A master of cutting up identity, Bowie played with the performative aspects of persona, gender, and sexuality.

Collectives such as Crass and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) experimented with cutting up behavior and expectations through their “life as performance art” philosophies, challenging norms put upon them by parents, family, and society. TOPY intentionally wove magical elements into their creative practices, pulling heavily from the methods of Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, while idolizing Burroughs and Gysin as creative, magical masters.

TOPY ringleader Genesis P-Orridge harnessed the Third Mind work of Burroughs and Gysin and took their ideas even further, in a project coined Pandrogeny, through which Genesis and he/r other half Lady Jaye Breyer underwent a series of surgical, chemical, behavioral, spiritual, and psychological procedures to break down their individual identities and come together more fully as one. In this life as performance art endeavor, the pair challenged ideas of difference between self/other, man/woman, and even life/death.

In this class, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson will review the history and evolution of the cut-up method over the past century. They will demonstrate how to apply cut-up techniques to a variety of artistic mediums, and participants will be encouraged to create, bring in, and share their own works of art (if desired, not required). A wonderful thing about the cut-up method is that it can be applied to whichever medium you enjoy. Words, images, sounds, video, fashion, and performance art may all be cut-up and rearranged to create something new and unexpected.

Anyone can harness the magical and creative potential of the cut-up method. Even if you don’t have any experience with the creative arts or magical practice, the facilitators of this course will walk you through the basics, and show you fundamental ways you can begin a creative and magical practice through work with the cut-up method. There will be plenty of time in class to share and to ask questions.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair is a psychoanalyst, artist, and occultist based in Sweden, who works with people internationally. She is the host of Rendering Unconscious podcast. Her books include Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond(2023), The Pathways of the Heart (2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (2021), Switching Mirrors(2016), and Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy(2021) with Elisabeth Punzi.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher, and filmmaker. His books include Source Magic(2023), Codex Nordica (2022), Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Different People (2021), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Occulture (2018), Mother, Have a Safe Trip(2016), and The Fenris Wolfseries. His films include Reseduction(2022), My Silent Lips (2019), Lunacy(2017), Sub Umbra Alarum Luna(2016), and the An Art Apart series. His publishing company is Trapart Books, Films and Editions.

Together they host the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon!

Images: Cut up artworks by instructor Dr Vanessa Sinclair

Online Talk · The Uncanny in Cinema: Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968) with Carl Abrahamsson

The Uncanny in Cinema: Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968), An Illustrated Online Lecture with Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: Sunday, May 14
Time: 2 pm EDT

Swedish author and filmmaker Carl Abrahamsson presents his reflections on Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Hour of the Wolf (1968), situating the film with regard to events in Bergman’s personal life, as well as in the culture and politics of the time more generally. 

Abrahamsson also discusses the relationship of Hour of the Wolf (1968) to other films created during Bergman’s “decade of deep introspection,” most notably Persona (1966) and Shame (1968). Abrahamsson contemplates recurring uncanny themes in Bergman’s work, having to do with the dynamism and reciprocity of interpersonal relations, identity and consciousness, and how this can veer into neurosis or psychosis. 

This is reflected in the haunting repetition of statements made by Alma (played by Liv Ullmann), “Isn’t it true that couples who spend so much time together begin to resemble one another … they think alike and even look alike. Why is that?”

This presentation is a chapter in Dr. Sinclair’s new edited collection Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond (Routledge, 2023)

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher and filmmaker. His books include Source Magic(2023), Codex Nordica (2022), Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Different People (2021), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Occulture (2018), Mother, Have a Safe Trip (2016) and The Fenris Wolf series. His films include Reseduction (2022), My Silent Lips (2019), Lunacy (2017), Sub Umbra Alarum Luna(2016) and the An Art Apart series. His publishing company is Trapart Books, Films and Editions.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

Online Talk · Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification and Ghosts in the Machines with Anders Lundgren and Caligula as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life with River

Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification and Ghosts in the Machines with Anders Lundgren and Caligula as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life with River, An Online Presenation

$8.00

Date: Sunday, April 16
Time: 2 pm EDT

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com.A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification & Ghosts in the Machines
By Anders Lundgren

Westworld was originally the brainchild of blockbuster maven Michael Crichton who both wrote and directed the 1973 motion picture. The idea of immersive theme parks where rich people could let off steam by living out fantasies of a violent and/or sexual nature without fear of judgment and consequences proved to be a commercial success. 

The inevitable sequel Futureworld (1976) and the short lived tv-series (only three out of a total of five episodes were aired originally before cancellation) Beyond Westworld introduced the concept of android doppelgangers and further expanded the ideas presented in the first film. One person who took notice of these was Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey who referred to Westworld when presenting his ideas for total environments. After lying dormant for most of the 1980s Crichton revived parts of the concept for his novel Jurassic Park in 1990, later turned into yet another record breaking film franchise by Steven Spielberg and others. Westworld returned briefly in the form of video game Westworld 2000 (1996). Despite using then hot CD-ROM technology, sub par graphics and gameplay kept this title from setting the gaming world on fire. This blip was followed by twenty years of silence before a new tv-series premiered on HBO. Easily the most ambitious iteration to date, this version of Westworld leans heavily into previously merely touched upon moral and philosophical implications of the original idea. What would happen if humans were able to create extremely life-like machines that in most cases do not even know that their lives are scripted sequences catering to the enjoyment of others?

Caligula (1979) as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life
By River

The movie Caligula from 1979 is arguably one of the most infamous movies of all time, much like its titular emperor. Mixing lavish sets, Shakespearean guild actors, shocking violence and pornography. The involvement of Bob Guccione and Penthouse caused such conflicts within its creative team that neither the writer, Gore Vidal, nor the director, Tinto Brass, wanted anything to do with the final product. Yet it endures as a cult movie of legendary status. As Helen Mirren said, it is ”an irresistible mix of art and genitals.”

This talk explores the movie and its compelling history through the lens of Dionysian paradox and life affirmation. From a deeply personal perspective it examines trauma, healing and the surprising places the ancient Gods may show up in our modern lives.

Anders Lundgren is a Swedish writer and connoisseur of the uncanny with a background in literature, esthetics and film studies. He has organized numerous film screenings and festivals, domestic and international, as part of Klubb Super 8. He also served as the co-founder and co-curator of the film programme for Serieket (The Comic Book Library) in Stockholm. Working at the latter establishment he has been on the production team for The Stockholm International Comics Festival since 2002. In 2010, he started the podcast Hög av Serier (High on Comics) with co-hosts Anton Bjurvald and Freddie Kaplan. In 2012, he established The Stockholm H. P. Lovecraft Festival. He has been widely published with his main output being the film criticism found in Hemmabio (Home Theater Magazine) and writings on comics in Bild & bubbla (Image & Thought Bubble). He has also contributed to anthologies like The Fenris WolfMignolaverse: Hellboy and the Comics Art of Mike Mignola and Judge, Jury and Executioner: Essays on the Punisher in Print and on Screen. He is a Priest in the Church of Satan.

River is a Swedish artist based in Stockholm. Her work is multidisciplinary with an emphasis on the visual arts. Always drawn to the intersection of art and magic she treats her creative process as a ritualized exploration of her unconscious. In genre terms, she works primarily with the weird and with horror. With an emphasis on craftsmanship, Rivers’ work explores the tension between a brushstroke and what it may represent. The tension between what is real and unreal, where we draw that line, and if there even is a line to draw.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

David Bowie Music Videos and Filmography: A Live, Online Presentation with Mary Wild, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

David Bowie Music Videos and Filmography: A Live, Online Presentation with Mary Wild, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: March 12
Time: 2 pm EST

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

The death of David Bowie in January 2016 left planet Earth decidedly blue. Dystopia, extraterrestrials, surrealism, and androgyny are some of the recurrent themes in Bowie’s avant-garde artistry that endeared him to mavericks and weirdos the world over. He mastered musical genres as diverse as folk, glam, soul, rock, funk, drum & bass, industrial, and jazz. 

Bowie’s enduring impact reaches beyond music, influencing the fields of the internet, fashion, cinema, painting, dance, and theatre. His embodiment and shedding of various alter egos (Ziggy StardustAladdin SaneThin White Duke) became a symbol of bold experimentation; these characters were masks he initially relied on as a performer to cover up shyness and crippling stage fright.

Here we will apply an interpretive framework to David Bowie’s music videos and filmography, with a focus on his personas, experience of childhood trauma, struggle with mental illness, addiction, isolation, resilience, and creative autonomy. This is a celebration of our dearly departed glamorous alien: a musical genius and multi-media virtuoso.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary also co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and creates exclusive content on Patreon.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

The Bloody Countess: Valentine Penrose, Erzsébet Báthory, and Sanguineous Surrealism: A Live, Online Lecture with Dr. Sabina Stent, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

The Bloody Countess: Valentine Penrose, Erzsébet Báthory, and Sanguineous Surrealism: A Live, Online Lecture with Dr. Sabina Stent, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: Sunday, February 19
Time: 2 pm EST

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

In 1962, Valentine Penrose (née Boué), the French-born Surrealist poetess, author, and collagist, wrote her seminal historical novel/biography Erzsébet Báthory la Comtesse sanglante. Translated into English in 2002, the book is more widely known as The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory.

Báthory was a sixteenth-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer who believed the key to everlasting youth and beauty was to bathe in the blood of attractive young women. Due to her notorious bloodthirst, she is sometimes referred to as the female Vlad the Impaler or compared to the infamous child murderer Gilles de Rais. In his book The Tears of Eros, Georges Bataille writes, ‘De Sade did not know of Erszébet Báthory’s existence, but doubtless her atrocities would have roused his most vicious excitement.’

Writing the book allowed Penrose to utilise and exercise her interest and knowledge of the occult. Penrose, who possessed a deep and unwavering interest in the arcane, ‘liked to think of herself as a witch,’ while references to mysticism and alchemy infused the lyrical verses of her poetry. 

This talk will look at Penrose, Bathory’s bloodlust via The Bloody Countess and thematic associations of blood in art by other women Surrealists.  

Dr. Sabina Stent is a freelance writer and speaker specialising in Women Surrealists and visual culture. She is interested in how feminists-surrealists explored the body, the cinematic, the uncanny, and Surrealism in Los Angeles. Sabina’s bylines include Magnum PhotosCrime Reads, and AnOther Magazine, and she writes a Substack newsletter called Love Letters During a Nightmare

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

Uncertain Places and Strange New Worlds: A Live, Online Talk with Occult Scholar Mitch Horowitz, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

Uncertain Places and Strange New Worlds: A Live, Online Talk with Occult Scholar Mitch Horowitz, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Sunday, January 15
Time: 2 pm EST

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

All of us dwell today in uncertain places where UFOs are mainstream, ESP is scientifically proven through methods once used to debunk it, materialism is fading as a dominant philosophy of life, reports of mysterious beasts and strange visitors abound, astrology and Hermeticism are entering new phases of study, and extra-physicality is as near as your own thoughts. Occult scholar Mitch Horowitz joins Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamson to discuss all things uncertain—including the nature of your personal search.

Mitch Horowitz is a PEN Award-winning historian whose books include Uncertain PlacesOccult AmericaDaydream Believer, and the forthcoming Modern Occultism. Mitch hosts the documentary The Kybalion directed by Ronni Thomas and appears in the upcoming Paramount thriller My Animal directed by Jacqueline Castel, a selection of Sundance 2023. Mitch’s books are published in eight languages. His work is censored in China.

Photo by Ebru Yildiz

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch by Sabina Stent and David Lynch: Cinema’s Uncanny Master by Mary Wild

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch by Sabina Stent and David Lynch: Cinema’s Uncanny Master by Mary Wild

$8.00

Date: Sunday, November 20
Time: 2 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch
Sabina Stent

In 1943, Maya Deren made Meshes of the Afternoon, a seminal work of American Avant-Garde cinema. Filmed in Los Angeles for $250, Deren’s work significantly influenced David Lynch’s Hollywood neo-noir Mulholland Drive (2001). In this talk, we will look at Meshes of the Afternoon’s Surrealist themes and motifs, connections to Mulholland Drive (as well as Lynch’s oeuvre), and how both films presented the unconscious influence of Los Angeles as leading to a paranoic state of mind.

David Lynch – Cinema’s Uncanny Master
Mary Wild

If Sigmund Freud’s ‘Uncanny’ were manifested in human form, the result would surely be David Lynch, the beloved American surrealist filmmaker dubbed “Jimmy Stewart from Mars” on account of his cinegenic good looks and unconventional manner. Lynch’s ultraweird directorial style embodies the Uncanny to a tee: violent, disturbing imagery pitted against a glimmer of ordinariness and magical realism; a cross between the macabre and the mundane. He loves to experiment with fear, mystery, and confusion. Here we will chart the Uncanny as an iconic Lynchian trademark in six celebrated titles featuring the Lady in the Radiator, the enigmatic Dorothy Vallens, absurdist road trip adventures, the Black Lodge, the Mystery Man, and whatever is going on behind Winkie’s Diner.

Films discussed: Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Twin Peaks (1991), Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001)

Dr Sabina Stent is a freelance writer and lecturer specialising in Women Surrealists and visual culture. She is interested in how feminist-surrealists explored the body, the cinematic, the uncanny, and Surrealism in Los Angeles. Sabina’s bylines include Magnum Photos, Crime Reads, AnOther Magazine, and she writes a Substack newsletter called Love Letters During a Nightmare. She is a re-occurring lecturer for The Last Tuesday Society’s digital lecture series.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and produces exclusive content on Patreon.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl