Lamella #2 Paternal Dysfunction

In the midst of the 20th century, when psychoanalysts worldwide implicated the mother as the agent of the child's pathology, French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan asserted the role of the father. Relayed in terms of the Oedipal myth, Lacan postulated a paternal function that operates from the very beginning of the Oedipus complex. Lacan did not view the paternal function as directly dependent on an actual father figure. Rather, he described it as a psychic function that regulates the relationship between the subject and the Other by instating a certain kind of order in the psyche. The failure of this function could sometimes lead to psychosis. Yet, while many psychiatrists saw psychosis as the hallmark of madness and human folly, for Lacan it exemplified the frontier of human freedom. The entries in this zine are the results of engagements with these ideas and their development in psychoanalysis, critical discourses (e.g. anti-authoritarian, feminist, queer) and art. They aim to show, in various creative forms, why, on the one hand, paternal dysfunction can be determined as a disturbance but, on the other, it can also give rise to a series of alternative trajectories (affective, expressive, visual or literary) that a subject unconsciously undertakes to achieve a stable relation with the Other.
– Lacan Affinities Berlin

Lacanian Affinities Berlin (laLAB) is a group composed of many individuals with an affinity for the work of Jacques Lacan coming from a plurality of backgrounds and cultural origins. The group’s many ventures include: academic seminars, workshops, artistic projects, community events, and more.

“Lamella” is an experimental project by the members of Lacanian Affinities Berlin (laLAB).

Contributors to this issue: Leon Brenner, Minna Etein, Sokol Ferizi, Manuel Gabbert, Camila Gonzatto, Ale Låke, Larissa Lourie, Adam Łuczak, Lisa Schmidt-Herzog, Razak Khan, Rachel Krause, Vira Sachenko.
Editorial team: Camila Gonzatto, Razak Khan, Rachel Krause, Ale Låke, Larissa Lourie, Adam Łuczak, Vira Sachenko, Leon Brenner and Sokol Ferizi.

The book comes with a free poster.