The end of an era

An audio-walk composition by Dana Papachristou and Yorgos Samantas

An audio-walk composition -or, alternatively, a podcast made for walking- by Dana Papachristou and Yorgos Samantas (TWIXTlab, Akoo-o) located in Walter Benjamin’s last place of residence, Portbou, Spain. The work is based on archival research on the prolific writer’s correspondence with Gretel Karplus and Theodor (“Teddy”) Adorno, between 1933 and 1940, as well as on in-situ inquiry on the writer’s traces and legacy on site. The composition consists of spoken excerpts from the extensive mail correspondence, together with a few fragments of their literary influences, brought together in an itinerary shaped in negotiation with the particular geography and the landmarks of the coastal Catalan town. As we ascend on the hill, we descend to the darkest times of Europe in the 20th century.