W. Benjamin walks and writes in bed through Berlin: An anti-dramatic reading in three acts

W. Benjamin walks and writes in bed through Berlin: An anti-dramatic reading in three acts

The life and work of the German-Jewish thinker Walter Benjamin are closely connected to Berlin. In this public reading, we take up Benjamin’s call (e.g. in Theses on the Philosophy of History) not to engage passively with history. The reading interweaves Benjamin's life in Berlin with his writing about Berlin, while simultaneously interpreting Benjamin's work from the perspective of ongoing urbanisation process to test its relevance to current issues facing urban society and the possibility of a non-fascist life. On 20 October 2024, Mareike Wenzel and Carmel Colabella read at the Villa Oppenheim. Sound and composition: Nihad El-Kayed and Tobias Purfürst.

Date

2022-2024

Language

English and German

Author

Günter Gassner in collaboration with the Walter Benjamin Archive at the Academy of the Arts Berlin, Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, and POLIGONAL-Office for Urban Communication

Keywords

Critical Theory

Benjamin

Aesthetics

Commodification

Heritage

© 2026 Günter Gassner
© 2026 Günter Gassner