My (virtual) Odyssey in the Freud Museum of London

Leaving Troy (Introduction)

The Artists placement started with Barbara Stavini placing artists in nationalised industries. The idea behind it was to broaden the possibilities of a practicing artist. I started my journey of finding a placement by identifying the field I am interested in. From a selection of keywords, I landed on psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In my search for the virtual organisation to do my placement, I visited sites such as the NHS about what psychiatry is and what psychiatrists can treat, blogs about the history of asylums, insanity and psychiatry in Scotland or the meeting of Dali and Freud, etc. Finally, I decided that the place that drew my attention more and I felt would inspire me to develop as an artist through the experience of studying it, is the virtual Freud Museum in London.

Home page of the Freud Museum of London web site

The home page of the Freud Museum of London web site.

The Island of the Lotus Eaters (How is this relevant to my own practise)

Since I started doing art, what interests me the most is the idea of each person watching the same thing I am, in a completely different way. Sociology,  psychology and psychoanalysis is one of the topics that inspire me most and almost all my projects and work are somehow related with at least one of those fields, either mirroring my inner world or somehow helping the viewer see themselves into it. Although I have studied it briefly in the past, I feel I have so much more to discover and work on, in that area. Therefore, through the following months, I will begin (and paradoxically enough continue) my journey of the psyche.

The Island of Aeolus (Why I believe the Freud museum would be the best choice)

 

In the web site I can find:

  • A virtual tour of the museum and information about everything in the toor.
Virtual tour of the museum.

Virtual tour of the Museum, as shown in the web site.

  • Blogs (including some of talks that have happened in the museum) about a variety of psychological and psychiatric studies.
  • Information for upcoming events and talks of which most are online and open to the public with a fee, that I can attend to.
What's on, Exhibitions, conferences, courses, on demand, tours, FAQS

The tool bar in the “what’s on” tab of the Home page, highlighting the variety.

  • For every talk I will attend, I will also receive reading material that will further my research.
  • It has podcasts that I can listen to even in my free time.
podcast category showing also the blog section

The podcast category showing also the blog section.

  • Other sources/names and websites that the museum has cited with useful information.

The land of the Cicones (How I am going to work)

I intend to attend talks, read blogs and listen to podcasts that interest me and use them as “food for thought”, to make work influenced by what I have learned, in some cases I will do follow up research to enhance my knowledge and create a more spherical view on the subject. I will write a blog for each small project developed by each experience, including; my notes from the talk/blog/podcast, the development of my ideas and work that I will do. At the end, it will be a journey of my development, mapped through blog pages. All the blog pages will be linked together. Each blog will have an introduction explaining what made me interested in that talk/blog/podcast, then the process of coming up with the artwork(s) and the analysis of the artwork(s) or continuation of it. The final would be a psychoanalytic journey of myself.

Advantages

  • The variety of information allows my project to take any form that I’d wish.
  • It links and associates psychology with a wide range of other studies and broadens the scope of creativity.

Possible problems and alternatives

  • In case that i am not able to attend a talk, I will read the blog on it or use the reading material provided and carry on my own research.
  • Some talks are continuations of previous talks that have already happened. If I am interested in such talk, I will again do my own research, prepare questions to ask at the end of the talk and read the blogs of the previous talks.

The Trip-line to Ithaca

 

Odyssey Unfold Virtual tour Permanent museum display
Ogygia How did Freud celebrate his birthday Blog
Psychoanalysis after Freud 2 11/02, 14:00
Telepylos Freud and Pandemic Exhibition opening 17/02
The private life of Freud 26/02, 15:00 – 16:00
Psychoanalysis after Freud 3 04/03, 14:00
Telepylos Mourning and Melancholia: life in the face of loss Podcast
Telepylos Art and Mourning

The role in creativity in healing trauma and loss.

Symposium
Aeolia Sigmund Freud’s famous psychoanalytic couch Blog

Any changes will be shown here.

Bibliography

Psychiatry(2018), nhs.uk, available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/psychiatry/ (Last date accessed: 25/01/2021)

What is psychiatry, rcpsych.ac.uk, available at: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/become-a-psychiatrist/choose-psychiatry/what-is-psychiatry (Last date accessed: 18/11/2020)

Introduction: Histories of asylums, insanity and psychiatry in Scotland, journals.sagepub.com, available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0957154X16678566 (Last date accessed: 18/11/2020)

The Odyssey on Tripline, Available at: https://www.tripline.net/trip/The_Odyssey-32666541706710049B82BCCA100FB5D3 (Last date accessed: 19/03/2021)