Architecture – Space – Anthropocene: Rethinking with Walter Benjamin Change of Programme: Lecture by Emanuele Coccia

For Walter Benjamin, reduction and transparency determined the physiognomy of architecture in the 20th century. He attached to them the hope for change in society and in the relationship between man and nature. Benjamin’s considerations are indeed part of a true “Philosophy of Space”, in which he reflects not only on our interactions with, but also within space and therefore with other species that share our environment. Space is considered as the condition of possibility of the coexistence between different species and acquires as such a political and environmental relevance.

As part of of the conference of the International Walter Benjamin Society “Hope – Rethinking with Benjamin”, philosopher Emanuele Coccia and architect Daniel Libeskind will talk about Benjamin’s relevance for contemporary architecture, for environmental issues and for possible forms of coexistence in a world in which the centrality of the human being is sometimes questioned.

Both Coccia’s last publications (La vie des plantes, Paris 2016; Métamorphoses, Paris 2020; and Filosofia della casa, Turin 2021), translated in many languages, and Libeskind’s site-conscious anchitecture and design show an original perspective on the above-mentioned topics, which follow the trail of Benjamin’s critical and visual thinking “going against the grain”.

Speakers: Emanuele Coccia (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris), Daniel Libeskind (Studio Libeskind, New York; member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin)
Welcoming address: Erdmut Wizisla (Head of the Walter Benjamin Archive and of the Bertolt-Brecht-Archive, Akademie der Künste, Berlin)
Presenter: Jürgen Renn (Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin)

In cooperation with the Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung and the International Walter Benjamin Society