Haunted Reflections: Celebration of Philosopher Walter Benjamin | SF

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City Lights Books celebrates the life and work of one of twentieth century’s great thinkers in Haunted Reflections: Walter Benjamin in San Francisco from November 5-9, 2014.

Through lectures, roundtables, installations, and film screenings, the goal is a total immersion in Walter Benjamin’s ideas and how they can be applied to our present situation. In a week-long series of events, revisit his life and ideas, utilizing Benjamin’s text as a lens through which to observe the sweeping socio-political changes that have enwrapped both the Bay Area and the globe. 

Who was Walter Benjamin? As a literary and social critic, essayist, radio broadcaster, and philosopher, Walter Benjamin made critical contributions to the way we think about modernity. With his pioneering studies of modern media and critique of commodity capitalism, he proved himself a visionary who could foresee the conditions that would later lead to the internet and globalization.

Haunted Reflections: Walter Benjamin in San Francisco
November 5-9, 2014
All Over San Francisco
Most events are FREE

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Free Event Schedule & Locations

Session One: Angel of History at the Gates of the West
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 7 pm

• Location: City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA
• Moderated by Paul Yamazaki, with Lindsay Waters, Howard Eiland, Mike Jennings
• Admission: Free

Session Three: Curating Benjamin: The Task Of The Philologist On Walter Benjamin’s Life and Afterlife In Postumous Editions Of His Work
Date and Time: Friday, November 7, 2014, 6 pm

• Location: Goethe Institute, 530 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA
• Uwe Steiner in conversation with Karen Feldman
• Admission: Free

Session Four: Radio Free Benjamin
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 12 to 1 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, Location TBA, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA
• Lecia Rosenthal joined by Linus Lancaster and Fred Young
• Admission: Free

Session Five: Shattered Illuminations: Revisiting The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 1 to 2 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall, San Francisco, CA
• Roundtable discussion with Finn Brunton, Mary Ann Doane, Michael Jennings, and Martin Jay, moderated by Lindsay Waters.
• Admission: Free

Session Six: Walter Benjamin’s Last Snapshot/ From Ethnographic Surrealism to Cyber-Somatism
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 2:15 to 3 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall, San Francisco, CA
• A roundtable discussion with Michael Saler and Mark Van Proyen, moderated by Frederick Young.
• Admission: Free

Session Seven: Walter Benjamin and the Two Angels
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 3 to 3:50 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall, San Francisco, CA
• A lecture by Victoria Nelson
• Admission: Free

Session Eight: Walter Benjamin & Experimental Psychopathology In The Weimar Republic
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 4 to 4:50 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall, San Francisco, CA
• A lecture by Scott Thompson
• Admission: Free

Session Nine: The Politics of Memory at the End of Time/The Legacy of Walter Benjamin
Date and Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 5 to 6 pm

• Location: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall, San Francisco, CA
• Roundtable discussion with Wlad Godzich, Finn Brunton, and Uwe Steiner. Moderated by Frederick Young.
• Admission: Free