Analysis Interminable. Psychoanalytical Schools of Thought after Freud
Psychoanalysis — of which it is hardly possible to speak in the singular — currently constitutes an integrative and simultaneously fragmented discipline that is sometimes united in schools: it is a lively and diverse field of research and clinical practice. Today, theoretical approaches are combined with the latest medical and neuroscientific perspectives, and psychoanalytic treatments are the subject of empirical research. What’s more, psychoanalysis is now influenced by feminist criticism and by numerous discourses within cultural studies and the humanities, as well as by the different cultural contexts in which it is embedded as an international movement.
It is still deeply rooted in Sigmund Freud’s thinking and his assumption that approaching the unconscious is a task that can never be considered completed1, remains true to this day. The exhibition Analysis Interminable introduces five contemporary psychoanalytic schools whose similarities and distinctions reveal psychoanalysis to be a complex and progressive science of the unconscious. In five short film interviews the exhibition presents one exemplary representative of the chosen psychoanalytical schools. The films grant insight into the individual approaches and the timeliness of the psychoanalytic approaches.
The temporary exhibition at the Sigmund Freud Museum portrays the founders of the psychoanalytic schools, introduces the respective schools of thought, and shows video interviews with current proponents as well as current literature. On this website, we present the introductory texts and the video interviews from the exhibition.
1 See Sigmund Freud, Analysis Terminable and Interminable, 1937
Drive-, Structure-, and Conflict Theory
Freud's drive theory was added to by Jean Laplanche, among others.
Object Relations Theories
Object Relations Theories are based upon the works of Melanie Klein and others.
Relational Psychoanalysis
Relational Psychoanalysis was co-founded by Stephen Mitchell.
Self Psychology
The central approaches of psychoanalytic self psychology were formulated by Heinz Kohut.
Structural Psychoanalysis
Structural psychoanalysis is closely associated with the name of the French analyst Jacques Lacan.
Curated by Esther Hutfless
Exhibition design: Stefan Flunger
Film concept: Esther Hutfless
Camera and Edit: Wout Kichler and Maximilian Klamm
Analysis Interminable. Psychoanalytical Schools of Thought after Freud
Temporary exhibition at the Sigmund Freud Museum
April 19 to October 1, 2023
Due to the multiple pandemic-related closings of the Sigmund Freud Museum in 2020/21, Analysis Interminable, conceived back then, will be shown again as a temporary exhibition in 2023.
