2005 was the 65th anniversary of Benjamin's death and I wanted to do something to mark this. I can't walk too well and I needed a collaborator. I thought that another artist, with an interest in Benjamin, might walk the route over the Pyrenees with a video camera and make the journey as a performance to camera reflecting on Benjamin's life and work. Ross Birrell a friend and colleague was that person and we began to plan a visit to Port Bou on the dates of the anniversary. I wrote to Vancells asking if there were any plans to mark the anniversary but received no response. I went on the Catalonian and Port Bou tourist websites and hit, 'Events'. For Port Bou....zero, nothing. We decided therefore that Ross would do the walk; we would film it and the sculpture and to make our own events to mark the anniversary. It seemed a good enough idea to get something special out of it. We checked into our hotel in the evening and after a meal on the promenade we wandered past the tourist kiosk and found, to our astonishment, that it was plastered with posters - EVENTS TO MARK THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF WALTER BENJAMIN. The events included a musical recital with flute and guitar accompanied by readings from Benjamin's writings, and re-enactments of his arrest, his last evening and interment. We couldn't believe our good fortune.

The film was shot on a basic digital video camera, hand held and with a tripod. Only the footage that was shot has been used. Only the sounds that were captured have been used. No other material has been cut into it. What you get is what we got.

Of the re-enactments which make up about half of the film, several elements stand out; the flute music by Anton Serra, which accompanied each section and which, with one guitar piece by Jaume Torrent, make up the music; the interment when the actor, Isidro Gubert, walks slowly and hesitatingly into the depths of the sculpture; the closing recitation by Montse Vives of Fernando Pessoa's poem, 'Afinal'. There are numerous references to Benjamin's thinking in the film including his thoughts on the painting, 'Angelus Novus' he had bought from Paul Klee and the notion of a storm 'blowing from Paradise'.

The great spirit of serendipity seemed to be weaving its spell of good fortune on us. How else can one explain that as the day of the re-enactments progressed a storm was brewing. At the very moment of the recitation of the Pessoa poem, itself containing references to storms, the wind blew fiercely, the sky darkened and black clouds scudded across it while, below the cliff, the sea was being whipped up. As Montse Vives delivered the poem with powerful, emotional expressiveness, her long hair was blown across her face and at one point she seemed to stumble and had to regain her footing. And the Pessoa poem, 'Afinal' - 'After All' - in keeping with many of his poems it was attributed to one of his heteronyms, in this case Alvaro de Campos, whose fictional biographical details included that he had 'trained as a nautical engineer in Glasgow'! And Madeleine Claus, whom we met by chance in a cafe after one of the events, a professor of German at the University of Perpignan, she had met, and interviewed, Lisa Fittko and had been involved in the commissioning of the sculpture.

The Mayor of Port Bou attended the events and at the wreath-laying ceremony at Benjamin's grave he gave an address. Looking at him he seemed to indicate that if he could have been anywhere else at that moment he would have preferred it. This was in absolute contrast to the address of the Mayor of Banyuls whose stirring address, knowledge of Benjamin and the implications of the events that took place in Port Bou on the night of the 26th of September 1940, left one in no doubt of its profound importance. Before leaving Port Bou I went into the general store to stock up on my supply of postcards of the sculpture. The store is owned by the Mayor who pressed me to take some new tourist brochures of Port Bou as if to say - there is more to this town than the memory of Benjamin's fateful visit.

It seemed that we were the only non-Spanish/Catalan people attending the events and wondered why this was so. We introduced ourselves to Senor Vancells who was very friendly and helpful. Mysteriously he had not received my last letter. He and his council had put money, and a lot of effort, into preparing the events which were powerful and moving and all of the highest professional standards. Was all this effort only for a local audience? Maybe so and maybe one could argue that this is as it should be. Nevertheless it merited a wider audience. Our film now does that.

May 2006

Film: 'Port Bou - 18 Fragments for Walter Benjamin', DVD, 30 minutes, by Ross Birrell and David Harding.