Le ali dell’angelo. Benjamin/Kiefer - Kiefer/Benjamin: contrappunti della memoria

The essay shows a comparison between the last philosophy of Walter Benjamin and the work of Anselm Kiefer. On the background of the dramatic relationship between past, memory and identity, which obviously assumes different forms in Benjamin and Kiefer, the comparison concern in particular the Kiefer’s work, Der Engel der Geschichte. Mohn und Gedächtnis (The Angel of History: Poppy and Memory, lead, glass, wires and poppies, 1989 The Israel Museum, Jerusalem) and the Angelus Novus of Paul Klee, which is at the center of the Theses on the concept of history, Benjamin’s true philosophical testament. The comparison between Kiefer’s art and Benjamin’s philosophy develops on the edge of counterpoint instead of consonance. The attempt is to show as a work of art and a philosophical text can dialogue, as an expression of different positions and autonomous languages. The common problematic ground, in our case, is that offered by the disasters of memory and the amnesia that characterizes our times.