This seminar explores W. Benjamin's "Artwork Essay" as an experiment in and a critique of modernist cultural history. Through its exacerbation of the antinomies of analyzing cultural production in historical terms and its theorization of technological media in relation to the history of art, the artwork essay interrogates both the very possibility of writing cultural history and the conditions of its necessity as a form of knowledge. Seminar focuses on the artwork essay's refunctioning of sources in a wide variety of disciplines and discourses, as well as on a number of exemplary exercises in cultural history and media theory in its aftermath.

By application only.  Applications should include your name, department, year, a summary of relevant coursework (at Princeton or elsewhere), and a 500-word essay in which you explain your interest in this seminar.  Applications are due by email to: [email protected]

Application deadline: Noon on Monday, 9 September
Decisions will be announced by 5 pm on Tuesday, 10 September.