anamnesis (ATOPIA no. 5 - 07/2004)
Memory is another no-place. As the poet Jean Paul (1763-1825) stated: "Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be chased". Memory, though, is far from being idyllic; it often turns into a theatre of violent oppositions for the narratives of origin. For this new edition of ATOPIA, we asked hellenists, essayists and artists to take part in the debate originating with Plato's theory of "anamnesis" (recollection). Artwork: Raffaella Mariniello (Napoli) |  |
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Assmann:“Plato's theory of anamnesis inaugurates the cultural studies debate“ |
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Written by Jan Assmann (Heidelberg)
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The egyptologist Jan Assmann is without any doubt among the leading theorists of memory. His book Cultural memory offers both a historical and a systematical background to the vivid debate about memory as the central paradigm of cultural sciences. ATOPIA has interviewed him for this issue. |
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Written by Friedrich Kittler (Berlin)
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In order to implement his doctrine of anamnesis (recollection), Plato drew on the Pythagorean discovery of the diagonal in geometry. As the media archeologist Friedrich Kittler argues, the Platonic memory theory is rooted in a deliberate oblivion of its own sources. |
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Politiques de la mémoire. Des traitements de la haine |
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Written by Barbara Cassin (Paris)
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Not only do civil wars leave countries desolated, they do also produce resentful memories. The French classical philologist Barbara Cassin compares two cases of paradigmatic treatment of hate: the first amnisty decree proclaimed in the year 403 B.C. in Athens and the work of the Truth Commission in South Africa. |
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Archive and atmosphere. The "pas perdus" of memory in W. G. Sebald |
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Written by Muriel Pic (Paris)
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The German writer W.G. Sebald (1944-2001) was relentlessly seeking an adequate language to past memories. Combining prose, documents and images in a dense technique of montage, the objects from the archives unfold a language beyond the discourse of historicity towards a blinking of remembrance. |
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Anamnesis und Amnesie. Augustinus über Gedächtnis und Erinnerung |
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Written by Fabian Goppelsroeder
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In Augustinus' (354-430) gesamtem Werk wird dem Gedächtnis eine zentrale Rolle im Erkenntnisprozess zugewiesen. Wenngleich diese Suche nach dem Wissen stets im Rahmen der Gotteserkenntnis bleibt, so ist diese Erinnerungstheorie dennoch hochmodern insofern sie sich - im Gegensatz zu Platon etwa - Erinnerung stets als eine Praxis ansieht, die sich einzig und allein in der Zeit vollziehen kann. |
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Gegenbewegung. Überlegungen zur Kunst von Mauro de Martino |
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Written by Mauro de Martino (Latina)/Jan Fusek (Berlin)
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Inversed movements: an Italian art brut artist and a German writer move towards each other, meeting on ATOPIA without having ever met each other physically. For Jan Fusek, Mauro de Martinos raw and intimate works painted for this edition express something of a resurgence of past experiences which can't be represented but through images. |
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Relikte. Jochen Gerz' Aktion “Is there life on earth?“ |
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Written by Christian Denker (Paris)
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The German, Paris-based artist Jochen Gerz wanted to solve the problem of the weight of the past through his performace Is there life on earth? (1970). For this purpose, he sent PVC bags all over the world asking people to fill them with objects they wanted to get rid of. Gerz eventually buried the 300 bags in the Parisian soil where the new Tour Montparnasse was being built. Fluffy, ironical reflexions by a German thinker who has left Germany a long time ago. |
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Written by Elios Efstathopoulos (Athinai)
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Greek photographer Estathopoulos (*Island of Kos, 1963) strolled through Greek cemeteries trying to capture the images, relics and symbols of remembrance. |
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5-ANAMNESIS