Authors: Sören Lander, Amalia Alarcón, Pilar Lojo, Saxa Stefani.
Abstract: The title of this abstract may sound evocative, and that was the intention from the outset. It seeks to point to a journey in which two movements converge: on the one hand, a reading seminar devoted to the work of Pichon-Rivière; on the other, the preparations for the Rimini 2026 Congress, whose central theme will be The Link as Subject in Contemporary Society.
The Seminar on Reading and Analysis of the Complete Works of Enrique Pichon-Rivière (Volume V) is a collective and intercontinental experience aimed at revisiting Pichonian thought from a contemporary perspective. Emerging from a shared need to reread the author within his historical context and in chronological order, the seminar seeks to connect the texts written between 1967 and 1977 with current practices and developments in operative social psychology.
The research is based on the hypothesis that a contextualized and collective reading of Volume V not only enables a deeper understanding of Pichon-Rivière’s conceptual development, but also generates new forms of theoretical and practical appropriation and reinterpretation. The methodological framework — based on virtual work through Google Meet — combines presentations by specialists, discussion panels, and active participation by attendees through the chat, fostering the emergence of collective learning processes and dialectical exchanges between theory and praxis.
We would like to share two images that accompany us in practice and group reflection and that we find useful in thinking about this journey. The first image depicts the study group gathered around a campfire in the middle of a forest, where chapters from Pichon’s complete works are read aloud. After each reading, a space opens for discussion about the content and the reflections it inspires. The group does not allow itself to be carried away by haste; instead, it grants itself the necessary time to reflect carefully on each chapter. The second image evokes a spring of crystal-clear water in the forest. Suddenly, someone throws a stone into the spring, and the scene changes: concentric ripples spread across the surface while the stone sinks to the bottom, stirring up the accumulated sediment. On a symbolic level, this image refers to the way reading challenges both the group’s collective reflections (the horizontal dimension) and the memories and thoughts that emerge from deeper layers of experience (the vertical dimension).
This is how we imagine the work of the study group throughout the year: a shared, patient, and transformative experience in which reading or rereading Pichon-Rivière not only brings us together around the written word, but also invites us to explore together the ripples and echoes it awakens in each individual and in the group as a whole.
Both experiences — the seminar reading process and the organization of the congress — can be understood as two currents flowing in parallel toward the same destination. The first offers us the possibility of keeping Pichon-Rivière’s thought alive, revisiting it, and placing it in dialogue with the questions of our time. The second invites us to bring together different perspectives and voices around the centrality of the bond in contemporary life.