Walter Benjamin and the Media

Since its foundation in September 2000, the Internationale Walter Benjamin Gesellschaft e.V. with its headquarters at the ZKM |Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe has been discussing and supporting research on Walter Benjamin dealing with the creative and visionary potential of his work and his multi-faceted view of the modern. Analyzing the development of art and culture in a global media society and subjecting it to a theoretical-philosophical debate plays a special role here. 

Two evening lectures will deal with the media aspects in the work of the philosopher. Jochen Hörisch (Universität Mannheim) will be speaking on »Walter Benjamin as a Medium«, since Benjamin not only thought about the media, he also understood himself as a medium. »Technology and Aesthetics. »On Walter Benjamin’s Media Theory« is the title of the lecture by Sigrid Weigel (Zentrum für Literaturforschung, Berlin). The »Short History of Photography« and the essay on the work of art form the focus of the attempt to explain Benjamin’s theory of the media with respect to the interplay between technical and aesthetic aspects.