Eye or Ear:
Walter Benjamin on Optical and Acoustical Media
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Conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Free and open to the public
December 1, 2006
10:30 am to 6:00 pm
Humanities & Social Sciences Building, 6th floor,
McCune Conference Room
Description | Program | Directions | Contact
Description
Our conference investigates the relationship between three aspects of Benjamin’s work: his language theory, his media theory, and his radio praxis. Since the essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is predominantly focused on painting, photography and film, much more is known about Benjamin’s understanding of these optical media than about his approach to such acoustic devices as the telephone, the wireless telegraph, radio, and sound film. Consequently, it is often forgotten that Benjamin reads both words and images as repetitions of the divine act of breathing, hence, as a reenactment of the biblical creation myth, and that, at the time when the artwork essay was published, sound film was well under way.
Program
| 10:30 am |
Welcome |
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Henry T. Yang, Chancellor |
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Elisabeth Weber, Chair, Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies |
| 10:45 am |
Wolfgang Hagen, Humboldt Universität, Berlin |
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“On the Minute” – Benjamin’s Silent Work for the German Radio |
| 11:30 am |
Rob Ryder, Northwestern University |
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Shell-Shock: Sounding the Acoustic Unconscious |
| 12:30 pm |
Lunch and coffee break |
| 2:00 pm |
Wolf Kittler, University of California, Santa Barbara |
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Benjamin’s Aura: Breathing, Seeing, Listening |
| 2:45 pm |
Michael Levine, Rutgers University |
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Eavesdropping on Tradition: Benjamin’s Reading of Kafka |
| 3:30 pm |
Bettine Menke, Universität Erfurt and University of California, Santa Barbara, Max Kade Visiting Professor |
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Echo(es): The Evanescent Presence of Sound in Benjamin’s Texts |
| 4:30 pm |
General discussion |
| 5:15-6:15 |
Reception |
Directions
The Humanities and Social Sciences Building (HSSB) is located next to the Events Center, off Ocean Road. Park in lot 27 or 21 in a “C” space. Parking permits must be displayed at all times and may be purchased from permit dispensers located in every parking lot; permits are payable by Visa, MasterCard, student Access card or cash.
Click here for a map to HSSB.
For More Information
Contact Sven Spieker at spieker@gss.ucsb.edu or Elisabeth Weber at weber@gss.ucsb.edu
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