Walter Benjamin’s Conception of Montage and Politics of the Image as Non-Systematic Critical Method

The focal point of the project was Walter Benjamin’s conception of montage. The term’s unique status within Benjamin’s work is a result of its twofold function as both philosophical concept and literary method for his own writing. Beyond the delineation of Benjamin’s montage theory, this project highlighted Benjamin’s importance not only as a literary and art critic but also as philosophical ‘monteur’ who constructed his texts from the ‘refuse of history.’ Additionally, the project investigated the manners in which the theory and practice of montage, which was flourishing in Weimar Germany and the USSR at the time, influenced Benjamin’s philosophy of history, literature and art.