Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction


Questions: 

1) Walter Benjamin discusses a shift in perception and the affects it had on film and photography in the twentieth century. He writes, "during long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence." He discusses how the manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in which it is accomplished, is determined not only by nature but by historical circumstances as well.  Benjamin writes about the way we look and see the visual work of art is different now then it used to be. How is human sense perception related to history?
2) Benjamin discusses how the sense of the aura is lost in film and the reproducible image demonstrates a historical shift that must be taken into account even if we don’t notice it. What does it mean when the aura is lost? Benjamin writes of this loss of the aura, but what comes through in this new space left by the aura that has been lost? 

1 comment:

  1. In regard to question two, there may already be evidence of what may be occurring when the 'aura' is lost. You in fact touch on it with your digital triptych montage. Connection between the human bodies, whether that be platonic, romantic, or family, can be subsidized for a more gearing towards virtual reality. In essence, with the loss of 'aura', we arguably lose purpose with one another. Same could be said about art! Efforts must be made for the artist to make what he does as unattainable by anyone else's eye or creation. If all there is to create with are objects that already 'exist', the same logic applies on a multiplied scale.

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