Orthography to Idempotency: Dream Paralysis and Figure-Ground Reversal 

The classic drawing in architectural representation, the section, uses orthography (parallel construction lines) but it also connects to the idea of "orthopsychics," thought's ability to correct itself. This essay uses analogies of dream idempotency (the necessity of immobilizing the sleeper with a figure-ground reversal), the "dispositif" (self-correcting device), capitalist surplus, the forced choice, and projective geometry to define the Lacanian subject as self-intersecting and non-orienting. To connect these ideas to popular culture, the Lacanian "lathouse" and its corresponding "alethosphere" are demonstrated through the thaumatrope, a simple gadget for creating a virtual connection between two opposed images. For a text of the voice-over narrative, go to art3idea.psu.ed.... For related materials visit the site of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Study of Architecture, art3idea.psu.ed....