Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity | Ceasefire Magazine
Andy McLaverty-Robinsonceasefiremagazine.co.uk
Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity | Ceasefire Magazine
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
This document explores the effects of mechanical reproduction on art, discussing the change in perception, the relationship between mass and art, and the influence of technology and politics.
web.mit.eduWhen the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image. As a result its meaning changes. Or, more exactly, its meaning multiplies and fragments into many meanings.
John Berger • Ways of Seeing (Penguin Modern Classics)
So let me propose a somewhat crude distinction between 2 kinds of art:
- Art consumed as a commodity , or used to sell a product. For many people, these kinds of works might not qualify as “art” at all, because they’re not intended to create an autonomous aesthetic experience. Their aesthetic qualities are often subservient to a functional purpose.
Celine Nguyen • Good Artists Copy, Ai Artists ____
for the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print
... See moremarxists.org • The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction