Walter Benjamin Award for Marcus Döller and Florian Telsnig

The prize, endowed with 4,500 euros, is sponsored by the International Walter Benjamin Society, the Walter Benjamin Archive and the Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research and enables young researchers to independently design, organise and run a two-day workshop.

In their workshop, which is scheduled to take place in autumn 2024, the two would like to work out the inner tensions of revolutions and revolts based on Walter Benjamin's analyses. According to their thesis, revolutions fail due to their regressive effects and the failure to revolutionise themselves. Firstly, the prizewinners want to analyse conceptually how revolution and revolt should be conceived according to Benjamin. Secondly, the planned workshop will reconstruct historically how Benjamin was received at the time of the student revolt. And thirdly, it will be asked to what extent Benjamin is or could be significant for current political practices (forms of protest, organisation, etc.).