Required Reading for Tuesday, Sept. 22: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, by Walter Benjamin. (Translated by J.A. Underwood). Alternatively, you can read this more newly-adopted translation, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, (Translated from Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technicshen Reproduzierbarkeit [1936] Gesammelte Schriften I, vol. 2, p. 431-508 by Zohn and Jephcott)
Blog Questions: In what ways is Walter Benjamin saying that our experience of the "art object" is diminished by the tools of mechanical reproduction (photography and film)? In what ways is he saying that our experience of the art object is expanded by these new tools? Blog your response to these two questions by "commenting" on this post, or on each other's comments.
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Walter Benjamin says that our experience of the "art object" is diminished because the tools of mechanical reproduction distances and detaches audiences from tradition. With each copy the aura of a pece of art is reduced until nonexistent. He says art has become political. My favorite idea of Benjamin's is that "concentration is contrasted with distraction." The delineation between the two seems impossible to define, yet imperative to find.
ReplyDeleteOur experience of art object is expanded, according to Benjamin, because the audience can see more detail. The art retains its public value and teh tools of mass reproduction have reformed our "modes of perception."
I have read this eassy in full length in other classes, and chose to read the new translation hopeing to get more out of it. However, Bengamin's theories still seem vague to me. Is his point: on't reproduce; reproductions mean nothing? I still can't grasp what this essay is about.