mb on 27 Aug 2000 23:19:24 -0000 |
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International Walter Benjamin Conference Barcelona - Portbou A public conference will be held at the University of Barcelona in September 2000 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death of Walter Benjamin - one of the most important philosophers, literary critics, and theorists of culture and the media in the 20th century. The conference will focus on the current relevance of Benjamin's works and attempt a re-evaluation of their significance against the background of increasing globalisation. As Benjamin himself demonstrated, political arguments alone are inadequate for addressing the rapid changes in modern society, the revival of outworn myths, and sporadic outbreaks of nationalist sentiment. In his works he demonstrated interrelationships between philosophy, literature, film, architecture, technology, and social developments; he focused on questions of language, myth, and truth, and later in his career wrote major texts on film, photography, and the arts. Moving freely across the borders of different disciplines, in his academic and literary works Benjamin arrived at a vision of modernity which has lost none of its relevance today. His "Angel of History" is not merely a historical metaphor - it asks to be reinterpreted and given new meaning for future generations. Benjamin's works have exerted continuing fascination on generations of academics and intellectuals, from members of the Frankfurt School of Social Research around Theodore W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer to contemporary historians and philosophers dealing with theories of mass communication and the media. Benjamin failed in his bid for freedom when the Nazis swept through Western Europe. He was twice detained in French internment camps before deciding that as a German Jew it was best to leave Europe for the United States. He crossed the Pyrenees only to learn at the border that he would be sent back to the Vichy authorities with the prospect of arrest and transfer to the camps. The night before that could happen Benjamin died at the age of 48. Whether he committed suicide or died of a heart attack - as documented in recently discovered official papers in Portbou's archive - cannot be definitively determined. Benjamin's death in the small Catalonian town of Portbou on the Franco-Spanish border (Sept. 26th, 1940) has come to symbolise the fate of the countless millions who endured emigration and exile in 20th century Europe. It invites discussion of the ongoing calamities of nationalism and borders, exile, ethnicities and negation of the individual. This conference is intended for both academics familiar with the life and works of Walter Benjamin and artists, journalists, politicians, students, and people from all spheres of public life with an interest in the deep structures of contemporary society and culture. http://www.walter-benjamin.org _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold