Phantasmagoria of Urban Spectacle:
Walter Benjamin and Media Theory Today
Jaeho Kang
Wed, Oct 29, 14:00
University of Westminster
Harrow Campus
Room A7.01

Registration is possible per email to [log in to unmask] until Oct 27

http://www.westminster.ac.uk/camri/research-seminars/phantasmagoria-of-urban-spectacle-walter-benjamin-and-media-theory-today

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is one of the most original and perceptive 
German literary and cultural critics, but his unique insight into the 
profound impact of the media on modernity has received a good deal less 
attention.

Based on his book 'Walter Benjamin and the Media: The Spectacle of 
Modernity' (2014), Jaeho Kang will talk about Benjamin’s critical and 
provocative writings on the intersection between media and modern 
experience with particular reference to phantasmagoria, aesthetic public 
space, and urban spectacle. In so doing, he will clarify Benjamin’s 
distinctive and enduring contribution to contemporary media studies.

Before joining SOAS in 2012, Jaeho Kang taught as Assistant Professor in 
the Department of Media Studies and Film at the New School in New York 
(2005-2012) and was the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in the 
Institut für Sozialforschung at the University of Frankfurt (2004-2005). 
He received his PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge (2003).

He has tried to bring theoretical contributions of critical theory to 
the development of East Asian media and cultural studies and published a 
number of articles on critical theory of media and political 
communication in English, Korean, German, and Portuguese.

His research has recently focused more attention on the East Asian 
context of media culture with particular reference to media spectacle, 
urban space and screen culture. The book 'Walter Benjamin and the Media: 
The Spectacle of Modernity' (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014) came out in 
summer 2014.