Foundations of Psychoanalysis 

Holes and Lack 

Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, 1951.

Mauro Milanaccio

Saturday, December 6, 2025 • 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

“This central hole is the object (a) as empty, required by a demand.” —Lacan: Seminar IX, Identification

In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the “hole” is not simply a physical absence, but a concept linked to the topology and structure of the subject. Lacan, using the surface of the torus, makes it a paradoxical element: the hole, far from being reduced to a pure lack, constitutes a point of intersection between the subject and the Other, between the demand and the object. 

Suggested readings: Lacan: Seminar IX, Identification (1961-62). Casati, Roberto, Achille C. Varzi: Holes and Other Superficialities (1995).

Location: Online via Zoom.

Fee: $50; for students with ID: $20. Registration details to follow.

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Mauro Milanaccio practices psychoanalysis in Trento, Italy. Clinical director there of the Jonas Association, he was a founding member of ALI di psicoanalisi (Associazione Lacaniana Italiana). At IRPA (Research Institute of Applied Psychoanalysis) he teaches topology and construction of clinical cases. Besides extensive editing and translating of works on topology, he has written, among other books and articles, Topisteria: A journey through Lacan’s topology (Mimesis 2022) and Divani [Couches] (Paginaotto 2022).