call for paper

Our present is marked by political and social crises, from rising authoritarian populism and the general erosion of democratic and legal institutions, to escalations of armed conflicts, to ecological catastrophes and accelerating capitalism. This forces millions into involuntary migration, often resulting in marginalisation and deportations. Against the backdrop of these events and challenges, Walter Benjamin’s philosophy seems, once again, more relevant than ever. Throughout his entire oeuvre, Benjamin engages with themes that crystallise around the concepts and conceptions of progress and decay, justice and violence, crisis and catastrophe, and not least, revolution and figures of the messianic. His readings of these phenomena emerge from a historical context characterised by political upheaval, inflation, fascism, and war, that has a striking similarity to the dialectics of today’s world. Especially his incisive critique of modernity as well as his reflections on history and politics offer a powerful lens for interrogating the ruptures and contradictions of our times of crisis.
For the third issue of the yearbook NEW BENJAMIN STUDIES, “Walter Benjamin in Times of Crisis”, we invite contributions of a maximum of 8,000 words that discuss Benjamin’s thought figures in light of the global developments and grievances, the struggles they bring about, as well as the possibilities they open for resistance and change. We strongly encourage submissions from interdisciplinary perspectives and non-Western intellectual and cultural contexts.

Please submit articles for consideration to new.benjamin.studies[at]gmail.com by March 15, 2026.

INSTITUTE FOR THEATER STUDIES AT FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN 23-24 MAY 2025

“The transformation of a shattering experience into habit—that is the essence of play.” Walter Benjamin, Toys and Play (1928)

The notion of “play” is a central theme in Walter Benjamin’s work, ranging from children’s games, and the Baroque mourning play, to Brechtian theater, and the famous chess-playing machine at the beginning of his theses on the concept of history. “Play” – as both word and object – assumes importance when Benjamin invokes a “history of the concept of play” to unfold the relationship between reflection, play, and semblance in his book on The Origin of the German Tragic Drama. In addition to play in the area of concrete engagement with theatrical forms, as in Bertolt Brecht’s later works, including his epic theater, play remains of interest to Benjamin as a vital human capacity throughout his life. Play’s ability to “override the orders of experience” (On some Motifs in Baudelaire) transforms it into a site where boundaries are dissolved, thus harnessing new possibilities. Crucially, Benjamin does not treat “play” and “playing” merely as metaphors or figures of speech. His awareness of contemporary theories of play (by thinkers such as Groos, Gröber, Freud, and Klages) informs his unique approach, situating play within a “world of signs”. Additionally, his later reflections on toys and play are shaped by his engagement with concrete (progressive) pedagogical movements at the turn of the century, along with the educational experiments in the nascent Soviet Union, which Benjamin observed with great interest during his stay in Moscow. For Benjamin, play and playing have an intrinsically transformative and subversive potential that breaches conventional frameworks, including the very notion of linearity and chronology (on stage as well as in history). In this “essence of playing” (Spielzeug und Spielen) lies a glimmer of hope for practicing the utopian, the different, the not-yet-known. This two-day workshop aims at re-reading the philosophical foundations and historical potentials of Benjamin’s notion of “play”.

For this workshop we will be joined by ERDMUT WIZISLA (BERLIN).

Since the event revolves around close reading sessions, some prior knowledge of Benjamin’s writings is strongly encouraged. Bilingual, German-English copies of the texts will be made available. To facilitate the discussion, the number of participants for this workshop is limited.

If you would like to participate, please send a message and a brief biographical note to the organisers by 30 March, 2025.

Organisation: Caroline Adler (Berlin/Hamburg), Stefano Marchesoni (Paris), Nassima Sahraoui (Frankfurt), Sebastian Truskolaski (Manchester)

Contact: benjamins.actuality@gmail.com

In collaboration with the Walter Benjamin Archiv, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, the Frankfurt Benjamin Lectures (Thomas Regehly), and the Institute for Theater Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (Doris Kolesch)

Con grande piacere diamo comunicazione del Call for Papers della Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, in collaborazione con Librerie Dante & Descartes, Goethe-Institut Napoli, AWB – Associazione Italiana Walter Benjamin, IISF – Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici di Napoli, dedicato al tema della porosità della città e dell’immagine, in occasione del centenario della pubblicazione del saggio su Napoli di Walter Benjamin e Asja Lacis. Di seguito i link al call for papers in lingua italiana, tedesca e inglese:

https://www.biblhertz.it/3553279/240910_CFP_Porositaet-der-Stadt_-Porositaet-des-Bildes

https://www.biblhertz.it/3553254/240910_CFP_Porositaet-der-Stadt_-Porositaet-des-Bildes

https://www.biblhertz.it/3553303/240910_CFP_Porositaet-der-Stadt_-Porositaet-des-Bildes

Il workshop si terrà presso la Bibliotheca Hertziana di Roma il 10 e 11 aprile 2025.

Per candidarsi, si prega di inviare entro il 30 ottobre 2024 un abstract di massimo 500 parole, unitamente a un breve CV, al seguente indirizzo: https://recruitment.biblhertz.it

Si accettano candidature in italiano, tedesco, inglese.

“Figures of Relation in Walter Benjamin’s Writings”

Walter Benjamin’s writings are consistently marked by a distinctive relational approach, characterised by the exploration of concepts and contexts through the many relationships that both define and contextualise them. This method of reading allowed him to explore various relational figures and models, such as the constellation, the ellipse, the monad, the analogy, or the téléscopage. These figures not only describe phenomena, but they also bear an important epistemological significance for Benjamin, enabling him to trace some of the most fundamental metaphysical problems, including those concerning experience, perception, space, and temporality. Relational frameworks and structures maintain a stable and continuous presence in his oeuvre, manifesting themselves in a wide range of contexts wherein his writings unfold, spanning history, philosophy, politics, poetry, art history, literary criticism, and beyond. This relational approach is evident not only in Benjamin’s engagement with the philosophical and literary tradition but also in the complex dialogue between his own ideas and those of other philosophers, poets, novelists, and cultural critics (such as Leibniz, Goethe, Hölderlin, Adorno, Kraft, or Fuchs, and others).

For the second issue of the yearbook NEW BENJAMIN STUDIES, we invite contributions in German and English of a maximum of 8,000 words that address the various figures of relation in Benjamin’s work. We strongly encourage submissions from interdisciplinary perspectives and different intellectual and cultural contexts.

Please submit articles for consideration to new.benjamin.studies[at]gmail.com by September 15, 2024. All submissions will undergo a blind peer-review process, and authors are requested to adhere to the style sheet provided on the NEW BENJAMIN STUDIES website.

13-14 marzo 2024, Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia

Simposio internazionale: Esilio e utopia

1. Le nozioni di “esilio” e “utopia” non appartengono solo alla filosofia e alla letteratura. Nel corso del XX secolo i contributi di intellettuali come Andrea Caffi, Walter Benjamin, Erich Auerbach e Albert Camus hanno dimostrato che esse hanno avuto un ruolo fondamentale anche nella formazione dell’Europa unita. Scopo principale dell’incontro è sondare se la loro carica ermeneutica è ancora in grado di dare nuova linfa alla riflessione su chi siamo e dove andiamo. Molte, infatti, sono oggi le sfide che l’Europa si trova ad affrontare. Tra scandali, corruzione e l’incalzare di mai sopite istanze nazionaliste, un clima di scontento e incertezza pervade gli animi di milioni di europei. Pensiamo che le scienze umane e gli intellettuali siano chiamati a fare la loro parte nell’invertire la rotta del disgregamento dell’idea stessa di Europa.

2. Molti intellettuali del XX secolo, come Sigfried Kracauer, Edward Said e Carlo Ginzburg, hanno parlato “in praise of exile,” per dirla con Leszek Kołakowski, ovvero ci hanno ricordato che l’esilio può essere trasformata in opportunità conoscitiva. Il simposio intende muoversi in questa direzione: comprendere l’esilio come qualcosa attraverso cui l’uomo, invece di regredire, si accresce e si rinnova. Al centro vorremmo porre il concetto di “movimento come reazione”: all’inevitabilità del movimento forzato come produttore di sofferenza gli intellettuali sopra citati hanno contrapposto l’idea di movimento come atto “disseminativo”, e per questo “rivoluzionario”. La rivalutazione dell’esilio come opportunità è parte integrante del pensiero utopico, capace di dare impulso alla costruzione di una società ideale. La rilevanza del binomio esilio e utopia, sebbene presente in molti contributi di esuli intellettuali del Novecento, emerge raramente nei libri degli studiosi. L’utopia è il respiro dell’esilio: ogni esule che resiste lo fa grazie alla fede in questo cono di luce. Esilio ed utopia sono due facce della stessa medaglia perché se il primo espropria terra, lingua, identità, la seconda minimizza tali perdite, ne sublima l’esperienza e ne rovescia il punto di vista. Dove finisce l’esilio inizia l’utopia e dove si esaurisce la seconda ricomincia l’esilio.

3. Il simposio vuole approfondire la forza di questo legame che il XX secolo ha dimostrato appartenere non solo alla cultura ebraica – attraverso i concetti di “Tikkun”, “paria”, “redenzione,” “messianismo” – ma anche alla storia delle idee. A tal proposito, verrà data grande attenzione a quelle istanze utopiche che furono alla base del socialismo libertario da cui è nata l’idea di un’Europa unita, e che è possibile anche riscontrare in un ambiente cosmopolita come la New York di metà secolo (riviste come politics e accademie come la New School for Social Research sono solo alcuni degli esempi massimi di questo fruttuoso scambio tra esuli e non).

Saranno benvenuti interventi che esplorano i seguenti temi:

− L’esilio, inteso anche in senso metaforico, come privilegio ermeneutico (distanza e prossimità; big picture; esilio e peccato originale; straniamento, ibridazione culturale, etc.);

− Intellettuali libertari tra Europa e Stati Uniti;

− Nomadismo intellettuale e pensiero utopico, sovranazionale, pacifico e rivoluzionario;

− Pensiero utopico e rivoluzionario oggi: diritti umani, tecnologia, cambiamento climatico.

Di seguito una lista, assolutamente non esaustiva, di intellettuali, scrittori e artisti che potrebbero essere materia di discussione: Bertolt Brecht, Ignazio Silone, Gustaw Herling, Vladimir Nabokov, Carlo Levi, Hermann Broch, Nicola Chiaromonte, Albert Camus, Andrea Caffi, Walter Benjamin, Martin Buber, Ernst Bloch, Erwin Panofsky, Claudio Guillén, René Wellek, Renato Poggioli, Erich Auerbach, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Mann, György Lukács, Kar Löwith, Leo Löwenthal, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, Marguerite Yourcenar, Milan Kundera, etc.

4. Inviare un abstract di 300 parole (lingua inglese) e una short bio a exileutopia2024@gmail.com entro il 15 ottobre 2023. Le informazioni sull’accettazione saranno inviate entro il 12 novembre 2023. I lavori completi dovranno essere presentati entro il 5 marzo 2024. Alcuni saranno selezionati per la pubblicazione in un numero speciale di una rivista internazionale (lingua: inglese).

5. Il simposio prevede interventi di 20 minuti in inglese, francese, tedesco e italiano. Sono disponibili interventi a distanza per i partecipanti che non possono partecipare di persona. Data: 13-14 marzo 2024. Sede: Dipartimento di Lettere, Università di Trento. Per qualsiasi richiesta o informazione aggiuntiva, si prega di contattare exileutopia2024@gmail.com.

ERNST BLOCH CENTRE FOR GERMAN THOUGHT SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 21-22 APRIL 2023

Matter in WBs Philosophy, CfP

Edited by Ilit Ferber, Stefano Marchesoni, Alexandra Richter, Nassima Sahraoui and Sebastian Truskolaski

New Benjamin Studies is a peer-reviewed yearbook dedicated to current research into the thought and writing of Walter Benjamin. Publishing articles by both emerging and established scholars, the yearbook aims to foster novel approaches to the work of the German writer, philosopher, critic and translator. Through annual thematic issues, New Benjamin Studies provides a unique platform for exchange among scholars from various parts of the world, offering an insight into the rich variety of present-day readings of Benjamin’s oeuvre. New Benjamin Studies welcomes innovative contributions from all fields of the humanities and beyond.

https://brill.com/page/nbs

UNIVERSITY OF VERONA 3-4 JUNE 2022

Download the Call for Papers: Community_Gemeinschaft_Benjamin Workshop in Verona 2022

Organisation: Stefano Marchesoni (Milan/Paris), Nassima Sahraoui (Frankfurt), Sebastian Truskolaski (Manchester/Berlin), Tom Vandeputte (Amsterdam/Cambridge) Co-Organisation: Nicolò Pietro Cangini (Verona), Caterina Diotto (Verona)

In collaboration with Centro di Ricerca ORFEO (Dipartimento di Scienze umane, Università di Verona), Professor Markus Ophaelders (Verona), as well as the Philosophical Colloquium / Frankfurt Benjamin Lectures (Thomas Regehly), and the Walter Benjamin Archiv, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

If you are interested in participating, please send a message and a brief biographical note to the organisers before 1 May, 2022.

Contact: marchesoni.stefano@gmail.com, nassima.sahraoui@gmx.org, tom.vandeputte@sandberg.nl, sebastian.truskolaski@manchester.ac.uk

2021 Conference of the International Walter Benjamin Society
November, 4^th-6^th, 2021

Link to Call for Papers

Abstracts (ca. 250 words with reference to one or two panels) for presentations (20 Minutes) are to be submitted until June 15th, 2021 to iwbs.2021@gmail.com

14-15 May 2021 – ONLINE WORKSHOP. HOSTED BY KING’S COLLEGE LONDON, DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Download the Call for Papers – pdf

If you are interested to partecipate, please send a message and a brief biographical note to the organisers before 31 March, 2021.

Contact: walterbenjaminsphilosophy@gmail.com.