Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reporduction” begins with the statement that “In principle a work of art has always been reproducible,” meaning that in all that we make we are in some ways capable of remastering the original product to the same extent. Thus Benjamin is making the statement that Art is indeed flexible. Benjamin’s purpose of writing this essay can be explained that Benjamin wants his readers to evaluate what happens to their experiences with the arts when they become too reproducible.
He argues that the human race has mastered the process of reproduction since the Greeks first began “stamping and founding” and has today continually transgressed our capabilities to include mastering sight, light, and voice reproduction with such inventions as the telephone, radio, motion picture, and camera to name a few. Due to such inventions, we have forever changed the way in which we view and value art.
No longer is it necessary for you or I to travel to museums or galleries in far off cities to view a rare painting by the great DaVinci, or go to a live play to gather in the “aura” of Cats, but instead we are able to log on to any computer with the world-wide-web to view filmed or photographed reproductions of either.
We, in fact, are also freely able to purchase such masterpieces at a fraction of the price thanks to the age of mechanical reproduction in the same exact way we are able to read or purchase Benjamin’s essay; either in tangible print or in digital format on the web. Benjamin points out that our capacity to do such is the very essence of the way we receive our arts;
"For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the-Meaning we no longer need to value the original or even ever view the original, when like with a photograph we are able to gain copies of the original from the copied version; also summarized in that “the technique of the reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.”
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.”
Ironically, since we are so freely able to purchase and view copied art, this has fueled an escalation of price and demand for the original piece, as only those desiring the original most will be able to pay top dollar to satisfy their want.
“Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art,” in that in much of early history only the rich and well-connected were ever able to experience great numbers of art. Nowadays 'Masterpiece' and everyday art is proliferated beyond museums, churches and school textbooks making its debut anywhere and everywhere as marketing, home accessories, and hospital wall décor to name a few. This transition has allowed long ago producers of art like Picasso and Mozart to become globally recognized names and images in the same context celebrities and the President enjoy today.
The art forms of film and photography can only exist as reproductions, as they only capture one view of a time and space, and if in visiting a place of a picture per say we would not be able to see everything that we see in a picture taken in the same location, but at a different time; therefore the “aura” is lost and indistinguishable from the authentic and original piece. With film making and motion picture the “aura” is also lost because when one enters to view a live rendition of a play, mistakes can be expected to come into view, but as they say in theater, ‘the show must go on’, … unlike photography and motion picture, where quite frequently the process is to keep the good and weed out the bad, or re-tape the mistakes, so that the final product is as flaw-free as it can be.
If one is to think about it, without the age of reproduction, each and every one of us here on earth would be living quite an isolated life, as over 99% of all our news is in some way a product of reproduction; newspapers, television, and radio must rely upon images, reproduced sound and copied text to advance their goods to the everyday being. Capitalism would not exist without the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and neither would any other political movement as all require technology to advance their messages. It is fair to say, that Benjamin himself would be wowed by the advances in technology since his death and would agree that art today is at its highest peak in regards to the number of those who have the capabilities to experience art.
No comments:
Post a Comment