A Subjectless Architecture

A key theme in Lacanian psychoanalysis is the disappearance of the subject, through aphanisis. Aphanisis was a term used in psychoanalysis to refer to the fading of the sexual desire of the subject. The term was coined by Ernest Jones in 1927, and was seen as the foundation of all neuroses. Since Jacques Lacan set desire within the realm of language, for him aphanisis meant the fading of the subject beneath the signifier, as the signifier defines a subject to another signifier, and the signifier takes precedence in the formation of the unconscious. Aphanisis defines the dialectic of the subject, and establishes its alienation and fundamental division, Lacan said in The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. Related to aphanisis and the disappearance of the subject in Lacan’s thought are the Real, the objet a, the fading of the subject in language, the fading of the subject in perception, and the gaze. Other topics related to the fading of the subject are the dream space of Sigmund Freud, the psychophysiological space of Erwin Panofsky, the heterogeneous space of Georges Bataille, and the psychasthenia of Roger Caillois. The purpose of this essay is to consider these concepts in relation to architecture, in order to consider the possibility of a subjectless architecture, and to use architecture to illustrate the concepts.