Sheraton Hotel
Rua Tenente Valadim, 146
9h00
CLOSING REMARKS
MONICA HOROVITZ
9h30 – 12h30
PLENARY GROUP DISCUSSION
MONICA HOROVITZ – LEOPOLDO BLEGER – JOSEPH TRIEST
TRANSLATOR & INTERPRETER : ZOE ANDREYEV
Bion’s group theory created a ‘Copernican revolution’ in our understanding of groups and their capability (and incapability) ‘to work’ – but it is usually kept split off (even by Bion himself) from his other clinical-theoretical contributions. Professional conferences are traditionally designed to discuss either the ‘theory׳ or ‘the experience’ – almost never both (the ‘experience of learning’). Following Bion’s phrase ‘thoughts looking for a thinker’ we wish to focus, in this conference, not only on the content of our thoughts – but also on our emotional experience as ‘thinkers’.
Our ‘Bion in Marrakech’ meeting will therefore offer a rare opportunity to discuss the state of mind that the encounter between theory and clinical work, in the first part of the conference (days 1 + 2), has created.
By introducing a large-group session of all participants on Sunday morning we hope to make space for exploring some of the hidden, unconscious forces and patterns underlying the culture and mentality of the work-groups we have established.
Included in this we will try to identify similarities and also differences between ourselves, in order to enrich the understanding of the ‘gravitational forces’ of our discourse – namely, what we are ‘allowed’ to think (aloud) and what not – and how all this influences our perceptions/interpretations of inner and outer realities.
This group discussion closes the meeting.
bion in marrakech 