Psychoanalysis meets virtual reality: One-day event (UK)

There is a significant amount of work happening at the interface between research on mental health and Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR). This one-day event hosted at the Institute of Group Analysis, London brings together artists, curators, clinical practitioners, patient advocates, academics and activists.

VR, AR and MR make use of arts-based technologies to facilitate individuals having an immersive sensuous experience by means of wearing a headset. Some experiences require the individual to engage with the environment – opening virtual doors or moving simulated objects, for example – while other experiences play out for the individual a bit like a cinematic encounter, by engaging the senses of sight and hearing.

What kinds of feelings might be evoked and/or contained while engaging in VR, AR and MR experiences? How might our engagement with VR, AR and MR experiences help us to become more aware of, and reflective about, the operation of introjection and projection? Might VR, AR and MR have a place in our clinics and/or as part of our clinical training programmes?

This event will include an individual experience of Perinatal Dreaming, a ground-breaking virtual reality experience developed by fEEL Lab (UNSW) and the Indigenous Australian artist, midwife/RN and trauma support worker, Marianne Wobcke. The VR artwork presents a visually stunning immersive audio-visual experience evoking early life in the womb and entry into the world, taking us through experiences of the ‘good’ and ‘toxic’ womb and first encounters with breast, skin and the world.

What might the Perinatal Dreaming VR experience contribute to our thinking about the long-term impact of early life experiences? How might our participation in group activities, underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking, help us to make meaning of our individual encounters with the Perinatal Dreaming VR experience?

The event is organised by Professor Lynn Froggett (University of Central Lancashire), Dr Noreen Giffney (Ulster University, Belfast), Professor Jill Bennett (University of New South Wales, Sydney) and Dr Gail Kenning (University of New South Wales, Sydney).

Who is this event for?
This event will be of interest to anyone interested in psychoanalysis and VR, AR and MR. It will be of particular interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, group analysts, play therapists, arts therapists, social workers and social care workers, mental health workers, youth workers, artists, performers and curators, as well as academic researchers and students in the fields of psychosocial studies, cultural studies, and in the arts, humanities and social sciences more broadly.

Information on the event programme and conveners: https://www.artsandhealth.ie/assets/uploads/2023/05/Psychoanalysis-Meets-Virtual-Reality-IGA-London-23.06.2023.pdf

Booking information: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/psychoanalysis-meets-virtual-reality-tickets-623270939157

Psychoanalysis meets virtual reality is presented by The Association for Psychosocial Studies, the UNSW Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC) and felt Experience & Empathy Lab (fEEL), Psychoanalysis +, the UCLAN Psychosocial Research Institute, and the Institute of Group Analysis.