Geomedia and Walter Benjamin (Geomedia 2017 Karlstad, and CCLA at Congress 2017 Toronto)

After working on geocriticism of Benjamin and using digital mapping to illustrate and research some of his urban writing, I was encouraged to try to work further in this direction, specifically, to work on geolocative media and Benjamin. I have started developing a paper which, in the end I hope, will include both, literary geocriticism of Benjamin, his discussion of urban space(s) of Berlin, and his theory of media applied to digital geomedia. The main premise is that since city is a medium (Kittler), understanding of this statement is expressed in Benjamin’s spatial memory writing, urban (literary) criticism and media critique. Benjamin is one of the fathers of spatial turn in cultural/humanities studies, mostly because of his work Passagen Werk, however his Berlin works and reviews of others working on Berlin can also inform a wider understanding of a connection between urban space discussions and media theory.
At the moment, I have just presented part of this work in progress at Geomedia 2017 interdisciplinary conference in Karlstad, Sweden. And just now I am preparing for my presentation (I hope this time technology will cooperate) at CCLA at Congress 2017 in Toronto at Ryerson. #congressh #congressh2017
You can check my presentation slides here.

Working on Portbou connection

Today I am starting to put some information and photos connected to Portbou. This summer I was able to visit the place of mysterious death of Walter Benjamin. My trip was partially informed by the article in book on mapping literature Maps ed. Ross Bradshaw, published by Five Leaves 2011, a collection of texts introducing maps and mapping into literary studies, and partially inspired by the pictures of Dani Karavan’s memorial, I found online on website commemorating the Benjamin’s stay in Portbou. The photos of the narrow tunnel, a passage of a kind, really enticed my imagination and created the need to examine the art piece for myself. I was not disappointed, since it was quite an experience.