PROVOCATIONS. The provocation will be to serve as the central art-form of the seminar. Provocations may be on any topic, of any length, for any motive. Ideally, a provocation should be short enough to provoke effective responses from seminar members. Effectivity is based on three principles: (1) it is the result of a project or action that leads somewhere, as a part of personal work; (2) it makes sense to others, and is translatable into other’s work; and (3) it provokes discussion that leads to more provocations. If this format is OK (title, preamble, body, with or without footnotes, bibliography) use it; otherwise there are no limits. Drawings, music samples, and experiments would also be productive. Where available, MS-Word formatted .docx files — indicated by (formatted) — are available to use as style-sheet examples. Unformatted essays should not be used as style guides.
- 1.1 Parapraxis of the Tiny House (Don Kunze) The aim of this paper is to establish a protocol for considering the combination of condensation and displacement (metaphor and metonymy) as the spatio-temporal rationale of the Tiny House in relation to Lacan’s idea of the interval of suspension: between the two deaths (katabasis), the suppression effect of ± i, and the pharmakon. MS-Word file (formatted)
- 1.2 Concentricity of George Spencer-Brown’s Laws of Form (Don Kunze) In the work of George Spencer-Brown, there is an interesting parallel between his central contention, that a distinction is coincident with an indication and the more general phenomenon of concentricity, and what in literature and story-telling is the device of the story in the story. A brief unpacking of these ideas, and some background on George Spencer-Brown is necessary (unformatted).
- 2.1 From Symptom to Sinthome, Borromeo to Brunn (Iraj Ghoochani) The mathematical basis for linking topics such as the Tiny House to lalangue requires an understanding of the three“Borromean” domains, the Symbolic, Imaginary, and Real in more general terms. When Lacan began to theorize the sinthome, he moved to a broader interpretation of the Borromeo rings’ variability. This paper lays out a foundation for pursuing the sinthome via knot theory developed by Hermann Brunn, in a 1982 article, Über Verkettung. The connection of lalangue to the discourse, in particular Capitalist Discourse and the Hysteric’s discourse, cannot be understood without this mathematical elaboration of knot topology.
- 2.2 The Persian Connotations of Tiny House Architecture (Iraj Ghoochani) Tiny houses have emerged as a popular architectural trend, reflecting a minimalist lifestyle and sustainable living ethos. However, beyond their physical dimensions, tiny houses embody a complex interplay of cultural, psychological, and philosophical dimensions. This essay is a short journey into the intricate connections between Lacanian topology, Persian connotations of tiling, the torus, magic squares, and posthumanist ideas within the context of tiny house architecture.
Using the Zairja: pairing two terms
This may be done through random selection or intentional selection. Pairing raises questions of sympathy and contrast; the terms may have relations to a third term which comes to light only by means of coupling.
- The response to the pairing itself constitutes an “entry” to a second, deeper level of the zairja. The findings from the first pairing is itself paired with another term from the main list, or another finding. The new account of this second pairing constitutes a third-level zairja. This zairja is edited and publicized.
- ChatGPT with Francis Conrad. It seems that OpenAI is only too willing to play the Zairja Game and, even, to consider the possibility that the Zairja was in fact the first Large Language Learning algorithm (unformatted).
obsessive formatting
As these two categories accumulate entries, theses begin to form around new patterns and themes. These become the basis for zoom sessions, as potential authors begin to conceive essay contributions to the Special Theme Issue of Psyche Extended. At this point the editorial process begins with an invitation for “cold contributions” (by authors who did not participate in the zairja-zoom activities). The call-for-papers mission statement will be based on the zairja discussions.
In preparation for the publication of the special theme issue, read and follow the formatting instructions based on the past project, Lacan+Architecture. Down-load the MS-Word file to use as a model or request the template by emailing the editors. Formatting, a form of typographical humiliation, exerts a force on the writer that as akin to meditation, also a form of humiliation. For the considerations of this “typological hygiene” in relation to the laminar viscosity binding natural aggression of argumentation and stylistic humiliation in writing, see Edmund Bergler, The Basic Neurosis, Oral Regression and Psychic Masochism, also Berglar’s The Writer and Psychoanalysis (1950).