Exhibitions
Eduard Bigas revisits Walter Benjamin in his new exhibition 'Wo mich niemand kennt'
Eduard Bigas traces a dialogue between memory, place and philosophy through the thought of Walter Benjamin, from Catalonia to Berlin.
The painter and visual artist Eduard Bigas, born in 1969 in Palafrugell, proposes an intimate encounter with one of the most influential intellectual figures of the 20th century: Walter Benjamin. In his new exhibition at Galerie Kuchling, Bigas does not treat Benjamin only as a historical figure, but as a “metaphorical spirit” that continues to resonate in our contemporaneity marked by political changes, technological acceleration and authoritarian tendencies.
Bigas’s personal trajectory—between Catalonia and Berlin—draws a symbolic circle. Near his birthplace is Portbou, the town where Benjamin died in 1940 fleeing Nazism, while Berlin, Benjamin’s hometown, is today the seat of Bigas’ life and work. This geographical and intellectual topography provides the framework for his artistic exploration.
In Wo mich niemand kennt , Bigas explores central motifs of Benjamin's thought: the fragmentary, the aura of the work of art, and the tension between original and reproduction. His pieces, which combine collage, ink on paper, graphite drawing on canvas, and conceptual photography, construct a polyphonic universe that reflects Benjamin's intellectual methodology.
The title of the exhibition comes from a note from Benjamin's last farewell: “It is in a small village in the Pyrenees, where no one knows me, that my life will end.” This phrase acts as a common thread throughout the works, evoking a poetic melancholy that runs through the entire exhibition.
Bigas draws inspiration from texts such as The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproduction and Benjamin's sonnets, but at the same time he develops his own visual language: intuitive, poetic and interrogative. His work invites us not to seek definitive answers, but to follow the paths opened by Benjamin's thought and reinterpret them in the present.
Wo mich niemand kennt thus becomes a silent homage to Walter Benjamin, at the same time as a reflection on memory, place and philosophy in our contemporaneity. The Kuchling Gallery once again welcomes Bigas, offering the public the opportunity to immerse themselves in this dialogue between art and thought.
