Criss-Crossing in Global Space and Time: Fatih Akın’s The Edge of Heaven (2007) Barbara Mennel Download PDF Abstract: In this essay, I argue that The Edge of Heaven constitutes a sophisticated and complex, and in part seemingly paradoxical, response to globalization. I suggest that the film captures the effects of globalization’s most pronounced characteristics. Transnational […]

Encounters on a Street Corner: Sommer vorm Balkon and the Return of the Berlin Film Mila Ganeva Download PDF Abstract: Sommer vorm Balkon has received critical acclaim for its director’s specific brand of low-key and crowd-pleasing realism. Praised have been also the film’s stylistic austerity and peculiar post-unification mix of various generic elements. At the […]

“Where Europe Begins”: A Selection from the Short Story by Yoko Tawada Translated by Susan Bernofsky Download PDF Abstract: Excerpts from “Where Europe Begins,” published in Where Europe Begins. Trans. Susan Bernofsky. New York: New Directions, 2002. These excerpts are reproduced here with the permission of the publisher. I always wrote a travel narrative before […]

Volume 4: Foreword Welcome to the 2008-2009 issue of TRANSIT. Our final round of articles for the year is now online. It includes an essay by videographer and theorist Ursula Biemann about her work, as well as a video of her recent visit to Berkeley. In addition, this round features a new translation by Roger […]

Writing Video – Writing the World: Videogeographies as Cognitive Medium Ursula Biemann Download PDF Abstract: This essay relates to my writings recently published in the monograph Mission Reports – Artistic practice in the field. Ursula Biemann Video Works 1998-2008, Cornerhouse Publishers, in connection with the retrospective exhibitions at Bildmuseet Umea 2008 and Nikolaj Copenhagen 2009. […]

Ursula Biemann in Conversation: A Screening and Discussion of Black Sea Files (2005) With an introductory text by Deniz Göktürk http://blip.tv/transitjournal/ursula-biemann-in-conversation-a-screening-and-discussion-of-the-black-sea-files-2005-2103700 Ursula Biemann came to Berkeley as a guest of the Strategic Working Group on “Cultural Forms / Local Stakes / Global Circuits,” funded by the Townsend Center and the Mellon Foundation and co-organized by […]

Switzerland and its Past: An Uncomfortable Relationship Roger de Weck Download PDF Abstract: This lecture was originally delivered at the University of California, Berkeley, on November 10, 2008. It addresses Switzerland’s asylum policies during the Second World War, as well as its relations with Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. The author argues […]

Switzerland: Advertising a Strange Case Iso Camartin Download this article as a PDF. Abstract: This lecture was originally delivered at the University of California, Berkeley, on November 18, 2008. Its thematic focus is on multilingualism and cultural diversity in Switzerland. It also addresses political and cultural loyalty, modern survival strategies in economically marginal regions, and […]