[spectre] CONF: Walter Benjamin in the East (Berlin, 7-9 Jul 22)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Caroline Adler
Date: Jun 14, 2022
Subject: CONF: Walter Benjamin in the East (Berlin, 7-9 Jul 22)

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin (ZfL), Jul 
7–09, 2022

Walter Benjamin in the East – Networks, Conflicts, and Reception

International Conference with keynotes by Sergei Romashko and Oxana 
Timofeeva, and a roundtable with contributions from Kateryna Mishchenko, 
Adam Lipszyc, and Christian Ferencz-Flatz.

In late and post-Socialist contexts in Eastern Europe, the works of 
Walter Benjamin—a historical materialist thinker who travelled to the 
young Soviet Union in the 1920s—have incited various theoretical 
transfers, artistic engagements, and political appropriations. 
Benjamin’s ‘afterlife’ before and after the dissolution of the Eastern 
Bloc offers the possibility to map out manifold trajectories and 
networks of reception—ranging from research groups, artistic movements, 
and conferences, to translations, and publishing houses. Investigating 
their interactions allows us to decentralize the Eastern European space 
in going beyond a Moscow-based perspective on ‘Benjamin in the East.’ 
Conflicting receptions of Benjamin need to be studied in their specific 
geo-cultural, historical, and political contexts in order to show 
affinities and differences not only across languages and cultures. 
Tensions also occur in a variety of translational processes—transfers 
between theory, cultural practices, political activism, disciplinary 
fields, and vice versa.

The conference brings together scholars, translators, artists, 
activists, and editors from across Europe to collaboratively historicize 
these transfers across Walter Benjamin’s works and their reception. In 
doing so, we will also reflect on real and imaginary constructions of 
the East/West divide. These are prevalent not only in European societies 
but can also be constitutive to specific Eastern/Western academic 
perspectives on Walter Benjamin as a disciplinary figure that crosses 
geo-cultural borders and boundaries.

Program

Thursday, 7 Jun 2022

13.30 Sophia Buck (Oxford/ZfL), Caroline Adler (HU Berlin): Introduction

14.00 BENJAMIN’S EAST
Pavel Arsenev (University of Geneva): Benjamin’s Reception of the East 
(and then back again)
Iacopo Chiaravalli (University of Pisa): Benjamin on Soviet Art – A 
Neglected Interview in Its Proper Context

16.00 VISIT TO THE WALTER BENJAMIN ARCHIVE
Introduction by Ursula Marx (only for speakers)

19.00 KEYNOTE
Sergej A. Romashko (Moscow): Walter Benjamin / Moskau – Zwei Flächen 
eines Kristalls

Friday, 8 Jul 2022

10.00 RECEPTON UNTIL THE 1990s
Martin Küpper (CAU Kiel): Die Zertrümmerung der Aura als Moment der 
kommunistischen Revolution – Über Walter Benjamins Einfluss auf den 
ästhetischen Funktionalismus in der DDR
Konstantin Baehrens (University of Potsdam): Lukács liest Benjamin – 
Zwischen formaler Distanzierung und kritisch-realistischem Ernstnehmen
Gábor Gángó (University of Erfurt): Walter Benjamin and the Cultural 
Turn of the Budapest School

13.30
Anna Zsellér, Károly Tóth (Elte Budapest): Kritik und Resignation – 
Möglichkeiten und Missstände der Benjamin-Rezeption in Ungarn bis 1989
Anna Förster (ZfL): “A rather secretive affair” – Walter Benjamin in 
1970s Czechoslovakia

15.30 ARTISTIC RESPONSES UNTIL THE 1990s
Isabel Jacobs (Queen Mary University of London): Unmaking Art – Walter 
Benjamin’s Resurrection in Yugoslavia
Deirdre Madeleine Smith (University of Pittsburgh): The Influence of 
Benjamin on the New Art Practice of Socialist Yugoslavia

18.30 KEYNOTE
Oxana Timofeeva (St. Petersburg): Translating Benjamin from Theory to 
Practice – Russian Edition

Saturday, 9 Jul 2022

10.00 ARTISTIC RESPONSES SINCE THE 1990s
Bogdan Popa (Transilvania University of Brașov): From Historical 
Materialism to Cultural Studies – Walter Benjamin and his Late Revival 
in Romanian Film Theory
Anna Migliorini (University of Florence): Radu Jude’s Movie(s) and Benjamin

13.00 RECEPTION SINCE THE 1990s
Markus Bauer (Berlin): Mimetische Lektüren Europas – Walter Benjamin und 
Rumänien
Adam Bžoch (Slovak Academy of Sciences): Spuren einer Apparition / 
auratische Netzwerke – Annäherungsversuche an Benjamin in der Slowakei 
um und nach der Jahrtausendwende

15.00 ROUNDTABLE | TRANSLATING (IN) THE EAST
Kateryna Mishchenko (Ukraine)
Adam Lipszyc (Poland)
Christian Ferencz-Flatz (Romania)

17.00 CONCLUDING REMARKS

--

The conference will be held in English and German. The event is free of 
charge. Please register in advance and specify the panels or sections 
that you want to attend under anmeldung at zfl-berlin.org.

Program and Info: 
https://www.zfl-berlin.org/veranstaltungen-detail/items/walter-benjamin-in-the-east-networks-conflicts-and-reception.html

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CONF: Walter Benjamin in the East (Berlin, 7-9 Jul 22). In: ArtHist.net, 
Jun 14, 2022. <https://arthist.net/archive/36941>.