Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

‘Khôra’ first emerged as a philosophical idea in the writings of Plato and was used to describe a space or interval that was ‘outside’ normal experience. He described it as a kind of ‘non-being’ or ‘formless interval’, a space that existed in between realms that were logical and knowable. I use the idea of Khôra as a way to investigate emergent images of the unconscious as they materialize in conversations with experienced psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in an arts-based research project. This study explores Khôra as a generative way to think about the unconscious, a space in-between, one that can never be definitively posited, but one that can be explored through refraction, projection, condensation, and automatism. Conversations with seasoned therapists and analysts about the ways in which the unconscious takes form in their practice are used to generate works of art that attempt to visually explore these ‘formless intervals’. Presented research consists of original works of art that will be displayed alongside excerpts from the interviews.