Week 5: [Mechanical Reproduction][Mechanical Reproduction][Mechanical Reproduction][Mechanical Reproduction][Mechanical Reproduction]

This week we were given several topics to discuss regarding Walter Benjamin’s “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

In Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, the role of modern digital media is considered as he discusses the rise of more advanced technologies and how they impacted the evolution of art historically. Art, as described by Walter Benjamin, lost its manual creation to a more technological process. This can be seen through the invention of the camera - which challenges the role of portrait and landscape artists in our society. This “frees” the hand of its artistic functions and is replaces by the eye viewing the world through a lens.

The reproduction of art has always been possible. Replicas of man-made artifacts were made by pupils practicing their skill, by masters distributing their works and by external third parties to benefit themselves. The mechanical aspect of reproducing art is a new element. The Greeks were aware of two methods of reproducing art; stamping and founding. Man-made items such as terra cottas, bronzes and coins could be produced in mass quantities, however all others could not be mechanically reproduced and remained unique.

There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

Art can broadly be defined as “the products of human creativity” (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=art).

Under this definition, the human aspect of creating art is not necessary the traditional methods of manually painting, writing or sculpting an artwork; it is the creativity behind each creation. This means that those who prefer to display their creativity through a mechanical technology, such as a computer, can still consider their creations to be art because it is branded by unique human imagination.

My Paradox: If a computer were to be programmed to randomly generate coloured pixels on a screen, and the result was something similar to that of human-inspired art, could this too be considered an artwork? Directly no, because it lacks the element of human creativity. Indirectly however, a person was creative in developing the idea of this art-generating computer, and would have designed the program which the computer uses. So would either the program the computer uses, the art itself, or both indirectly be ‘art’ by definition?

Is a photoshopped image "authentic"?
Technically… no. By duplicating the image before any photo-shopping commences it becomes a replica. The aura and authenticity of the image would be lost at this stage.

Once the image is photoshopped, however, it becomes a completely new image. The authenticity of an artwork is the essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning. While it is no longer authentic in relation to the original image, it is authentic in having been granted a new beginning. This new illustration may also develop its own aura.

Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

Walter Benjamin described an aura as a sense of awe and reverence experienced when in the presence of great works of art. This aura is not limited to the object itself, but rather its external attributes which greatly vary to those of digital “things”.

The aura of an artwork is influenced by its known line of ownership, however the ownership of digital creations cannot be passed from one person to the next and often it is difficult to find the original creator or owner of online artworks. Additionally, it is very easy for someone to steal the creations of others and claim them as their own, further taking away from its aura.

Restricted exhibition also increases a work of art’s aura. Digital designs are no way restricted; if anything they are available on the internet to increase the number of people who can easily view them. It is possible to restrict traffic to websites by creating a password system, but it is uncommon for users to place items on the internet if they didn’t want the world to see them.

The authenticity of a “thing” is the essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning, ranging from its substantive duration to its testimony to the history which it has experienced. Publicizing authenticity upholds the aura of a work of art.

Cultural Value is too a determent of aura according to Walter Benjamin. With early recognised artworks, such as paintings and sculptures, a great influence of the culture and time can be seen. The online community which influences digital “things” is a merger of internet users worldwide and has its own culture. Although the culture of the person responsible for the construction of the digital item may be present, other users of the internet would most likely value the online culture which influences digital artworks.

Original works of art were dependant on ritual, meaning there was an association with location, influential sources of power and religious ritual. This originality is eliminated with the development of new types of artwork such as digital creations and therefore the aura is shattered. Bejamin wrote "For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual."

Although Walter Benjamin suggests that digital forms of artwork do not consist of an aura, in rebuttal digital representations of artwork or unique digital creations still maintain an evolved cultural value; however the known line of leadership, reach of its exhibition and authenticity dilute this aura. In general, the overall impact, or aura, is lessened but still exists. For example, when we watch the news on television we regularly see shocking scenes, and even though we are not experiencing these events for ourselves in real life the video of them still stirs similar yet lessened emotions within us. As with art, even if we view the piece via a digital source we still experience the same feelings towards it but the aura is weakened. With the technologies available to us today, it is understandable that the way in which we view and react to art has evolved.