The Catalyst Club continue on Zoom this autumn. To kick it off you have the dubious honour of an evening of extended talks from me on two individuals who have inspired me over the years: cartoonist B.Kliban and psychotherapist Wilhelm Reich. Here’s the blurb on why this will be a great night!
For a while B. Kliban was one of the most influential cartoonists in history, inspiring the Pythons, the Saturday Night Live team, Ivor Cutler and Gary Larson. He moved cartooning away from the tired formula of speech bubbles and desert islands into his own surreal world. His work is timeless, thought-provoking, philosophical and at times downright bizarre, yet he seems to have been forgotten by history. It’s time Kliban was celebrated and his work reappraised. This talk seeks to do just that. And will also explain whether or not I ever found the biggest tongue in Tunisia…
Wilhelm Reich died in prison in the US in 1957. As the Nazi had done twenty years previously the American authorities burned his books and destroyed his work . What was so dangerous about Reich? Largely his fascination with orgasm and the belief that psychoanalysis needs to treat both mind and body. He was also a bit bonkers. What connects Reich with Kate Bush, William Burroughs, Sean Connery and Patti Smith? What exactly is a cloud buster? And how should we think about Reich and his ideas sixty years after his death?