Desire on the Couch: Mapping A Century of Sexual Knowledge Production A Judie Wexler Faculty Innovation Fund Project

Wednesday, January 28 to Friday, January 30

8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Cost: $27.24

California Institute of Integral Studies 

1453 Mission Street

Faculty Researcher (PI): Christopher G. Walling, PsyD, MBA, FABP – Chair & Associate Professor, Department of Research Psychology, CIIS
Presented by CIIS in collaboration with the Kinsey Institute

Come discover how psychoanalysis met the sexual revolution. Desire on the Couch unveils rare, never-before-seen-on-the-West-Coast archival treasures from the Kinsey Institute —Freud’s handwritten replies to worried parents, candid case files, censored photographs, annotated Kinsey Reports, and the marginalia that challenged an era’s shame.

This landmark exhibition transforms CIIS into a living archive of sexual knowledge, tracing a century of dialogue between psychoanalysis and sexuality studies. It invites reflection on how these ideas shaped cultural understandings of desire, gender, and identity — and how they continue to resonate today. Through this exhibition, CIIS affirms its role as a national leader in advancing inclusive, interdisciplinary dialogues at the intersection of psychology, culture, and consciousness.

For three unforgettable days during APsA 2026, the California Institute of Integral Studies becomes a laboratory of liberation—where history whispers, bodies speak, and desire claims its rightful place in the psychoanalytic imagination. APsA attendees are warmly invited to tour the exhibition, connect with Kinsey curators, and join us for an exclusive opening reception.

Schedule of Events
CIIS Gallery, 1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

• Wednesday, January 28 through Friday, January 30, 2026
  Exhibition Viewing: 8:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.

For more details and to purchase tickets visit: ciis.edu/desire