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 Hillman of Peter […]
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. The initial purpose of my writing, particularly in connection with […]
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 Charles L. Briggs and Deniz Göktürk. On April 30, 2009, she participated in […]
My Place
Peter Weiss Translated by Roger Hillman Download PDF Abstract: Originally published as “Meine Ortschaft” in Rapporte (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1968), pp. 113 – 124. The German edition includes a map of the subject matter. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1968. Translation © Roger Hillman, 2009. Introduction by Roger Hillman A number of German authors were […]
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 that Switzerland must accept responsibility for its […]
A Fine Self-Deception
Roger de Weck Translated by Ted Dawson Download PDF Abstract: Originally published in German in the SonntagsZeitung, October 28, 2008. Acknowledgments: Translated from the German by Ted Dawson People and cultures have a tendency for selective memory. They forget much of what they’ve done or undergone. They hold onto the convenient, embellish the mediocre, and […]
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 cultural priorities in a globalized […]
Bumperfatscha
Iso Camartin Translated by Kurt Beals Download PDF Abstract: Originally published in German in Iso Camartin, Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn: Schweiz (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2008). Acknowledgments: Translated from the German by Kurt Beals. We don’t just sit down at the table and dig in. Good manners require that we speak to one another before […]
Plea for a Mobile Identity
Hugo Loetscher Download PDF Abstract: This lecture was originally delivered at the University of California, Berkeley, on December 4, 2008. It focuses on the conception of identity from both a Swiss and an international perspective, debating the conflict between personal, national and global identity on the basis of personal experiences. The focus is on variation […]
If the Good Lord were Swiss
Hugo Loetscher Translated by Rafaël Newman Download PDF Abstract: Originally published in German in Der Waschküchenschlüssel, oder, Was-wenn Gott Schweizer wäre (Zurich: Diogenes, 1983). Acknowledgments: Translated from the German by Rafaël Newman. What would it be like if the Good Lord were Swiss? The question is not as idle as you might think, given one’s […]