Exhibitions
Flucht: Walter Benjamin's Escapes
Espe Pons transforms the Blanquerna Cultural Center-Bookstore into a visual journey through the last days of the German philosopher, between border landscapes, exile and silence.
Starting tomorrow, the Blanquerna Cultural Center-Bookstore in Madrid is transformed into a space to think about the past through the eyes of Barcelona photographer Espe Pons . The artist presents Flucht. Walter Benjamin's Escapes, a proposal that starts from the trail left by the German philosopher during his escape from Nazism and raises questions about memory, limits and freedom. The exhibition, made up of 27 photographs, aims to suggest an emotional journey through the landscapes that Benjamin crossed in his last days before dying in Portbou, convinced that he would be arrested by the Francoist authorities.
© Espe Pons
Flucht is part of the official program of PhotoEspaña and can be seen until July 26. The opening ceremony will take place tomorrow, Thursday, May 22 at seven in the evening and will feature the participation of the delegate of the Government of the Generalitat in Madrid, Núria Marín , the poet and essayist Vicenç Altaió , and the author herself, who will offer a guided tour. In addition, Altaió will perform a live artistic action that will consist of writing and reciting her poem El Gas de la Història, also integrated into the photobook that accompanies the exhibition.
With a sober and direct approach, Pons turns landscapes into silent witnesses to the stories that have been erased or hidden within them. In this case, Benjamin's story and his escape serve to open a window to themes that remain current: fear, displacement, forced exiles.
The exhibition is linked to a photo book that, in addition to the images and the poem by Altaió, includes texts by Pilar Parcerisas and Mona Benjamin , the philosopher's granddaughter. Parcerisas asks: "What do these photographs tell us about?" and she herself answers: "Of shadows and traces on paths with memory that have intensely experienced the passage of man plowing little-explored paths, among vineyards and herds, between peaks that look to the sky and the horizon of the blue sea."
© Espe Pons
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