The reception of Walter Benjamin's work has vindicated his own insight into the ways in which the optic of the present continually transforms the past. With particular focus on the city, glass architecture and themes of historiography, collecting, and ethnography, Benjamin's methodology of 'telescoping the past through the present' is put into practice. Contributors include: Benjamin Buchloch, Mark Dion, Detlef Mertens, Esther Leslie and Jane Rendell. 72 b/w illustrations203.