In early April, we were joined by over twenty colleagues from various parts of the world to reflect on the meanings of a ‘mental health commons’, exploring the axes of fantasy, utopia and infrastructure over a series of five panels at the Midlands Conference in Critical Thought (MCCT), in Nottingham, UK. For the first time this year, the organisers of the London Conference in Critical Thought (LCCT) decided to branch out to other parts of the UK. This gave rise to the Midlands Conference. Members of our FREEPSY team had the pleasure to take part in the organisation of the Midlands Conference, to listen to a variety of academic and creative contributions and to get in touch with colleagues from the most diverse fields and backgrounds.
From archival work on outsider art or institutional psychotherapy, to current projects of psychoanalytic elaboration in territories of southern Brazil and rural Indonesia, to collective wounds and artistic interventions in public sites, to creative historical, political and clinical ways of thinking about psychosis, those two days rescued several cases in which togetherness mobilises the creative productive capacity of the unconscious.
It was interesting to see so many colleagues from Brazil, as well as two from the USA in such vibrant dialogue and our lasting fantasy, post event, is that these networks of peers in our psychosocial field are being weaved and sustained during the years of our FREEPSY project.
The appetite for ‘the psychoanalytic’, echoing the excellent New York Times article from last year, seems more alive than ever. Not only did we received multiple submissions for participating papers, making of our stream one of the largest of the event, but our panels were well attended by fascinating colleagues, from architects, artists, critical theorists and decolonial scholars. There is something in the air, or a psychoanalytic wave coming through.
There is also something important to be said about the Critical Conference model itself. The London Critical has been happening in London for twelve years already, and its dreamers forged a model that can be replicated elsewhere. The core idea is that this is a non-hierarchical and free conference with a rigorous multidisciplinary approach. A yearly call out for streams is shared and each stream organiser then becomes a conference co-organiser. The Midlands Conference felt like an assemblage of the most fascinating papers. Colleagues from different fields discuss all things from neoliberalism in the university, posthuman methodologies, to ‘making bread with your feet’ as an arts-pedagogy strategy… in this diversity a brilliant common thread is ever present. There is an orientation to the critical that is ultimately creative.
We are currently working on creating a FREEPSY digital Zine on the contents of our Mental Health Commons stream. Watch this space for more news on that!
Paper presentations by: Matt ffytche, Magda Schmukalla, Gustavo da Silva Machado, Candela Potente, Fabiana Wolff Kogi, Isadora Sammi Clausen, Jade da Silveira Fraga, Kleriane Napp Ribas, Vitoria Martins Limas, Aline Rubin, Claricen, Paulon Augusto Coaracy, Paula Costa Camarão, Alexander Miller, Kendra Terry, Andrew Howe, Rifki Akbar Pratama, Luíza Girolamo Canato Magro.
For the stream programme see: https://freepsyproject.com/join-us-for-a-freepsy-stream-on-mental-health-commons-at-the-mcct-2024/
