KEYNOTE: Lisa Appignanesi in conversation with Vivian Sky Rehberg

Join us for an online KEYNOTE with writer, novelist, and historian of psychiatry Lisa Appignanesi, and in conversation with writer, researcher, and educator Vivian Sky Rehberg. The event is the second in the 2021/2022 KEYNOTES season and takes place in partnership with the KABK Master of Artistic Research.

Sign up via the link above to be part of the webinar on Zoom and join the Q&A, or tune in via this website at 6 pm to watch the live stream!

Paying Attention: Women, Psyche and the Senses

Lisa Appignanesi OBE is a.o. former chair of the Freud Museum in London and English PEN and author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction including Mad Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800. This special edition of the KEYNOTE series will take place in the form of a conversation in the context of the year-long exhibition 84 STEPS which foregrounds mental health, feminism, and how spaces care for or create social tension.

The keyword of ‘attention’ will guide the evening. What is the significance of attention within histories of psychoanalysis, and the specific framings of women’s so-called madness? How may attention be considered in the often unpaid forms of ‘care’ provided by women? How does distraction figure in current ‘attention economies’ conditioned by online platforms, anonymity, and reactivity? Finally, how can we return to attention in the modes by which art is experienced?

The KEYNOTE series is a platform in Rotterdam to gather in thought and conversation. Each KEYNOTE takes place on Friday nights, inviting timely contributions to important public topics. The second KEYNOTE season explores the relationship of art and therapy, or therapeutic aesthetics, and takes place in collaboration with academic and learning partners in Rotterdam and the Netherlands.