Week 3 | Robotics + Art

In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Walter Benjamin says about a fundamental change of arts through the development of video and picture technologies. He refers uniqueness of the work of art as “Aura”. In the era of mechanical reproduction, aura of art has been reduced in the art works, and this decrease or loss of the aura goes far beyond the art realm. 

Mechanical reproduction of arts has destroyed “Aura”.

In the past, many art works had religious values in them. 

(A Vicious Circle)

I agree with the idea that mechanical reproduction destroys the aura, which is the uniqueness of the work of art and it rather develops the art through creating new art recipients; previously, the arts were considered too solemn and influenced only a few people; however, development in technology has made the art become more accessible to much more people, resulting in popularity of the art works. Benjamin mentions that the previous art before the era of mechanical reproduction has ritualistic value; because most of the art works during the period were under the influence of religious values. However, arts have been gradually separated from the religious values, becoming more popular since then.   

Movies have collectivism. 

Lastly, Benjamin also explores photography and movies; he mentions that whereas the visual images represented by photos show individuality, movies have quite different characteristics, that is, collectivity or collectivism. During those times, movies were used in politics, where there existed too much confusion in politics; Benjamin describes that arts have contributed to the politics through advances in technology; it seems like he believed that advances in art and accordingly art’s becoming popular could make innovations in society possible; and the movies, especially their collectivity, were one of the main contributors. Furthermore, the religious values pointed out by Benjamin still exist even now where we have so amazing advances in mechanical reproduction. 

REFERENCES

"Aura of Walter Benjamin." zum. N.p., 31 Jan 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Marxists. N.p.. Web. 17 April 2016

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction.” The MIT Press, 1995. Web. 17 April 2016

"Jacek Malczewski. A Vicious Circle. Late 19th Century." Art and Faith Too. N.p., 01 July 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

"The Social Experience of Going to the Movies." CriticalTwenties. N.p., 02 May 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.