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Urban Memory and Visual Culture in Berlin

Framing the Asynchronous City, 1957-2012

Simon Ward

9789089648532
212 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
As sites of continual change and transformation, cities are fundamentally forgetful places. Yet at the same time, urban areas are also homes to museums and archives that collect and exhibit the past-a key cultural, political, and economic activity. This book looks at that paradox through the example of Berlin to see how the city has responded to challenges to memory created by rapid changes in politics, economics, society, and the built environment, ultimately arguing that the recovery of the experience of time is central to the practices of an emergent memory culture in the contemporary city.
Author Bio
Dr Simon Ward is Lecturer in the School of Modern Languages at Durham University, where he teaches German literature and visual culture.