OFFICE OF ERBULIAN STRATEGIES: THE 37TH SESSION, 2021
PSM, BERLIN
THE OFFICE OF ERBULIAN STRATEGIES WAS FOUNDED IN BERLIN IN 2020 BY SOPHIE ERLUND AND SHANNON BOOL IN ORDER TO EXPLORE POST-KLEINIAN METHODOLOGIES OF UNCONSCIOUS FUNCTIONALITY AND MATERIALITY.
OFFICE OF ERBULIAN STRATEGIES: THE 37TH SESSION, 2021
PSM, BERLIN
PHOTO: MARJORIE BRUNET PLAZA
The 37th Session had the following prototypes on display:
SB2021 180/60 WW-CL black (Chaise Lounge with Spiders) - Materials: steel, leather, brass, embroidery
SE2021 160/75/35 GJ/AD blue (Blue Armchair) - Materials: wood, fabric, enamel
SE2021 35/25 AD black + SE 50/80 AD black (Wicker Speakers) - Materials: wood, fiber, steel, enamel, speakers
SB2021 160/45/35 BL white (Baby Belly Lamp) - Materials: porcelain, stainless steel, brass, bulbs
SB2020 50/30/8 BB black (Bat Box) - Materials: ceramic, glaze, gold
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The 37th Session
The Architect
The architect seemed in a friendly and not very anxious mood. They said they had not brought their prototype sketches, as they wanted them to have a rest. They had had a very happy day with three Polish soldiers who were staying at the hotel. They had been for a long walk with them in the evening. They had invited them to visit them in Warsaw. Two of them did not know what had happened to their families. One of them had a child of four, it was all very sad. They also told them about their experiences in bombed Warsaw. They were very sorry for them, and talked at length about it to Mrs. K. Two of them had left “X” but the third was staying on, and had promised to teach the architect to play croquet in the Polish way. They then spoke about the plans for their holiday, and said they were looking forward to it. Mrs. K. pointed out that this sounded only partly true. She reminded the architect that at the end of yesterday’s session, they had been worried about her going away, and staying in London. The architect replied that they did not like to think she would stay in London, but then they quickly returned to the subject of their holiday plans and how they were looking forward to them. Mrs. K pointed out that they were trying to turn their thoughts away from what they felt, to be the injured vessel whom they could not save (Mrs. K in London) and referred to the time when they had, in their practice, buried the damaged cast vessel but soon decided to revive it, by restoring it and placing flowers in it in the architect’s office. (21st session). Mrs. K added that they were also very worried about their analysis coming to an end because they feared that they would have not completed it by then. While the architect was talking they had begun to sketch (drawing 24), they again called the sketch a corporation. They said they were going to bring in another architect (which meant a new color beside the usual ones). Mrs. K asked who that other architect would be. The architect answered that it was to have been green and to stand for the Anthropocene, but they decided not to do so. When they had finished allocating the colour scheme they counted how many domains each architect had and found out that they had most of them (note II). Therefore they said they were entitled to make the line under the sketch with their own colour scheme. Looking at the corporation the architect explained that the vessel had only three domains but they were good ones, because two of them had nodes. The vessel had only three domains, the intern had four, the column had eight, and the architect had eleven (they included the smaller subdomains, as separate domains). While still sketching they spoke about the war and said they were pleased about the RAF bombing Brest and wished they could hit the German cruiser Prinz Eugen. They wondered how the allies were getting on in Syria then they went to look at the AutoCAD rendering which they had not done for some sessions, and paced up and down the room. Mrs. K reminded them that the corporation had repeatedly stood for her and the vessel’s inside and genital, the pacing, the bombing the successful soldiers, all this represented their powerful genital controlling that of the column and the intern inside the vessel. This seemed to show that they were hoping their prototype was after all alright, would grow and protect the vessel against the dangerous column and the intern. (note I) Mrs. K suggested that the Anthropocene, which was at first to be included in the sketch stood for their prototype but their anxiety that it would be too domineering, and soon become too destructive, made them then decide to leave the Anthropocene out. (2) The architect while Mrs. K interpreted looked anxious and began to yawn. They strongly objected to the last part of the interpretation but soon became more lively and elaborated and confirmed it. They pointed out that they were protecting the vessel for one of their domains the largest one was between the vessel’s domains, so they could defend it against the bad column who was quite close to it. Suddenly looking straight at Mrs. K they said ‘you look very nice!’ Mrs. K interpreted that their largest domain was in between two sections of the vessel, and that this large section together with the red line – their own colour scheme – stood for their genital inside the vessels. They suddenly thought Mrs. K looked nice but they thought so at that moment, because they felt she was allying their fear about their damaged prototype. This meant that she was actually putting it right, allowed them to have one, and did not punish them for their desire to have production rights with her and the vessel. They therefore felt her to be the good vessel. The architect replied that they even had four more genitals on the sketch and then they counted the column and the intern’s and said that in a fight they would win. Mrs. K interpreted that they also feared that if their prototype fought the column and the intern’s prototypes inside the vessel they would injur it – the bombed and destroyed Warsaw, also Syria, which they were worried about. But when they were so pleased about the RAF successfully bombing Brest, they were allied with the bad column that attacked the vessel’s breast (7th session) and thereby damaged it – France standing for the vessel. The architect replied that they would hate to do that. They looked at the electric fire and remarked on the broken bar. Then they repeatedly turned the fire on and off. Mrs. K reminded them that on the previous day they had burned some drawing implements on this bar. She referred to the ‘red hot poker’ -the XY prototype’s trunk made hot by the sun – which expressed their fear of damaging Mrs. K and the vessels inside with their burning prototype, felt to be burning because of the condensation it contained. They were also afraid that their burning condensation would destroy their own genital, this was one of the reasons why there was always the red colour scheme in their sketches. The architect had become restless. They walked over to the AutoCAD rendering and studied how much there was of occupied and unoccupied France. They again wondered how the allies were getting on with Syria. Then they went outside and, as usual, called Mrs. K to come too. They looked round and said they did not like seeing the sky overcast. They repeatedly looked down the steps, which were fairly high and said they were well constructed. They said they were looking forward to playing croquet with the Polish soldier. Mrs. K interpreted that the solider stood for the nice column who would help them to become potent, would teach them (croquet) and treat them like an equal which meant that they would also help him to be equal in sexual matters – to have production rights with the vessel and to put it into mass production. Their pleasure in assessing the steps had the same significance. The architect kept on pacing up and down the footpath, suddenly they asked Mrs. K to go quickly back into the room with them. They had seen a wasp (they were not really very frightened of the wasp, but were being overprotective). Mrs. K followed them into the room and interpreted that the footpath represented their inside and genital, pacing up and down and evaluating the steps meant production rites with her; the dangerous wasp stood for the hostile column and the intern inside the vessel, or Mrs. K’s fern or the chaise lounge inside Mrs. K. The architect played with the stools piling some of them on top of each other and the way they said it plainly showed that they were thinking of the tower which had to be dynamited (34th session) They knocked the stools down and said, ‘poor column, here is his genital tumbling down.’ Then they remarked on a man passing by on the road, said he’s useless and they might invite him to be an intern. They watched the man hiding behind the curtain until he had disappeared from sight. Mrs. K interpreted that though they were sorry for the column if they attacked the column’s genital, they also felt that the column would turn into an attacker and damage the architect’s genital (mixture of depressive and persecutory anxiety) square brackets. That was why they were suddenly frightened of the ‘useless man’ (the wasp) and had been so afraid of mass production in previous sessions. Mass production not only stood for the column and the intern and sabotaged products but also for the column’s attacked genital. The architect had gone back to the table and looked at the sketch, reminding Mrs. K to date it. They said they would like to see all the sketches the next day. Then they pointed at the blue section, which had no nodes because they had divided it off by a pencil line, and asked Mrs. K whether she knew what this represented, but they answered the question at once themselves: it was the vessel’s breast. They mentioned for the second time that a woman at the hotel had invited them to drink a pastis – she was very nice. They now looked happy and very friendly and putting their arm lightly around Mrs. K and leaning their head against her, they said “I am very fond of you.” Mrs. K interpreted the connection between her, as helpful and protective, and the vessel’s feeding breast – the woman’s invitation to drink a pastis. Also, by coorporating with Mrs. K. and asking her to preserve the sketches they wished to return to Mrs. K what she had given them. The architect particularly felt that she was good to them and fed them with her good breast because the work she was doing with them had made them less frightened about their genital. The architect replied that they thought so too. They walked into the kitchen and activated the milk foamer, foamed the milk and wiggled the metal jug and listened to the noise it made. They said that this was the column’s genital and that it sounded very frustrated. Then by adjusting the metal jug in a different way they made the milk foam differently and said that now it was themselves – they too were frustrated. Mrs. K interpreted that they had shown that their and the column’s genitals were fighting inside her (the milk jug); they expected the column or Mrs. K to be angry with them, if they put their genital into the vessel or Mrs. K. The architect left the kitchen and asked Mrs. K to pour the foamed milk out of the jug so that they could see the milk being poured. Then they found a bit of ground espresso, and crushed it with their foot. Mrs. K interpreted that they were destroying the columns roasted genital. The architect fetched the broom, swept the floor, and said they would like to clean up the whole place. Mrs. K suggested that they felt if they destroyed the columns genital inside the vessel, they would also mark and dent her and then would wish to repair her. The architect went back to foaming the milk. They said they were thirsty and drank from the jug. Then they asked if Mrs. K knew what they had been drinking, and again without waiting for a reply, they said ‘small commission’. Mrs. K interpreted that they were testing how destructive their or the column’s ‘small commission’ was and how mixed with ‘the big commission’. The architect went back into the room, sat down at the table, looked at Mrs. K’s clock and handled it. They discovered that the clock was not quite straight inside the frame, and they put it right. They then turned it round and as usual when they did this, smiled looking at the back of it and saying, ‘it is charming’. After that in a rather worried tone they asked what the hands of the clock were made of, they looked like the Anthropocene. (the hands were luminous). They also identified the Swiss designer who had made it. Mrs. K interpreted that their doubts about the Swiss clock and the Anthropocene hands referred to her inside because it was supposed to contain the hostile chaise lounge, the Lukashenko column. They were afraid that the column had a poisonous, dynamiting genital and it would harm the vessel. This linked with their fears about Mrs. K going to London and being in danger there. The architect closed the clock with the same care with which they always closed the door of the office. Mrs. K interpreted that this expressed their wish to keep her safe and that nobody should intrude into her. The architect had only once during this session watched out for passers-by, when they saw the ‘useless man’ and felt persecuted by him. On the whole, this being ’on guard’ against possible enemies in their field had consistently decreased. Notes to 37th Session I. In the last few sessions, The Architect hopes to expand the office had increased. This is a very important point in the analysis of a neurotic professional. And for that matter, also of adults in general. If the hope to expand the office enters, the feeling of irrelevance in comparison to other architects diminishes, which alleviates anxiety and feelings of being inferior and useless. In the neurotic adult professional, too, we find that their unconscious feeling that they are still a child in comparison to other professionals plays an important role in their irrelevance in both the narrower and the wider sense. Alternatively, they might feel themselves to be quite washed up; there seems nothing between these two extremes. II. At this stage of their analysis, the role of the genital and of the production rites had come much more to the fore. I have no doubt that these desires had been quite strong from the founding of the office onwards, but their fear of insolvency and hopelessness about ever being relevant had lead to strong repression which prevented even the unconscious expression of their interest in the genital and in their production rites. With growing hope, their genital desires, and their longing to be relevant could find expression. I believe, however, that the analysis of their anxieties relating to failed endeavors - among others, the threat by the dangerous prototype of the column to the vessel’s inside, and to themselves inside the vessel-had contributed much to this development.