Walter Benjamin International Prize
The award, organized by the MUME and the Walter Benjamin Chair (UdG) with the collaboration of the Democratic Memorial, the Girona Provincial Council and the Portbou City Council, is part of the transversal nature of the work of the Jewish-German author, and aims above all to support the theoretical work carried out by professionals linked to the studies of art, photography, architecture, urban planning, cinema, philosophy, history, literature, sociology...
In all cases, projects with issues related to the history and memory of the 20th century are considered a priority.
The periodicity of the awards call has been biennial and in the first edition, apart from the recognition of an unpublished essay work, the prize was also awarded for the modality of aid to artistic creation.
Between 2011 and 2023, 6 editions of the PIWB have been held and the winning proposals have been the following:
1st Edition PIWB
-Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2012-13: Marina Vinyes, for Uses and abuses of the image in the universe of the Shoah
-Aid for artistic creation 2012-2013: Anna Soler Horta, for Fragments.
2nd Edition PIWB
Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2014-15: Jordi Julià, for Los cantos del éxodo. Poetic figurations of the republican exile.
3rd Edition PIWB
Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2016-17: Ana Lanfranconi, Kinder für die Aufklärung. Childhoods and interruptions in Walter Benjamin's radio broadcasts
4th Edition PIWB
Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2018-19: Edgar Straehle, Memory of the Revolution
5th Edition PIWB
Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2020-21: Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas, Volver a Stalingrad. The Eastern Front in European memory, 1945-2021.
6th Edition PIWB
Recognition for an unpublished essay work 2022-23: Antoni Martí Monterde, Walter Benjamin. An autobiography of modernity.
Currently the jury is made up of Francesc Abad (Visual Artist), Xavier Antich (UdG), Ángel Quintana (UdG), Erdmut Wizisla (Walter Benjamin Archive, Berlin), Jörg Zimmer (UdG, Walter Benjamin Chair, Memory and Exile), Nat Raoux (Historian – Simmel Center/EHESS) and Bruno Tackels (philosopher).