Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

This paper uses T. Ogden’s formulation of the ‘analytic third’ as a generative lens through which to frame a discussion of the ways in which viewers are transformed through experiences with art. Ogden (1994, 1999, 2004) posits that an intersubjective ‘thirdness’ is unconsciously co-created between the analyst and the analysand which changes them both. This study explores how the notion of an intersubjective third emerges in a co-created space in between a viewer and a work of art, and investigates the many ways in which this generated third becomes an interpretive frame through which we experience and are changed by our experiences with art. Examples from psychoanalytic literature and modern and contemporary art are used to explore the emergent and social implications of ‘thirdness’ in encounters with art.