Borderline States - On the Borderline of Psychology and Philosophy: Art
Talk: “Between Life and Death: Transience”
Prepared and Presented by: Cengiz Arca & Ezgi Emel
Time: 18.30 - 20.00
The unstoppable flow of time threatens the safe stories we build about life, bringing us face to face with the reality that everything has an end. On a psychoanalytic level, this shock comes to life in the pessimistic poet in Freud’s essay "On Transience." The poet thinks that nature's great beauty will fade and disappear in winter, and therefore believes that everything temporary loses its meaning and value from the very start.
In the words of Paul Ricoeur, this "subject who cannot build a story", who sees the future not as an area of possibility but as absolute nothingness, experiences a narrative blockage. Yet, according to Freud, the fact that something is bound to change does not decrease its value; on the contrary, it adds a unique "rarity value" to it. At the root of human resistance to accepting this rational truth lies the soul's difficult mourning mechanism.
In this event, we will discuss transience by tracing this exact tension.
* The event will take place at the Minoa Pera, Sahne.
Address: Evliya Çelebi, Meşrutiyet Cd. No:99, 34430 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
* The talk will be held in Turkish. To attend this talk, you can create your registration by using the "Register" button on the page and receive your free event invitation. Registrations will open 1 week before the event date (27.05.2026, at 18:30) and the "Register" button will become visible. Participation is limited to a quota of 80 people.
* Participants who have completed the event registration and received their invitation are kindly requested to be at the venue at least 15 minutes before the event. The doors will be closed at the event starting time.