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Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in The Age of its Technological Reproducibility"
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| I The reproduction of art is one of the innovations of the age that is not new, but has been revolutionized to an extreme degree in the modern era. Art has always been replicated, as any man-made object may be recreated by man, but exact reproduction is a new form. Reproduction is said to have started with a few basic art forms in ancient Greece, printing in the 16th century, and finally lithography in the 19th century. Lithography allowed for more frequent and varied reproductions as traces on stone. This graphic art was soon replaced by photography, which was able to keep in time with speech, as the eye is capable of capturing more with a lens, than the hand with a painting. Sound was soon added to create the most efficient and quickest art form yet. By the turn of the century technology had become a part of the artistic process through two different manifestations: the reproduction of artwork and the art of film. [Stephanie Calhoun] II A reproduction is different from an original work of art in that it lacks the original’s unique existence. This existence includes the work’s physical history and changes in ownership. The original’s unique experience is unable to be replicated, so authenticity cannot be reproduced by technology. In fact, a technological reproduction devalues the work’s unique existence. Technological reproductions differ from handmade reproductions in two key ways. One is that the technology used to make the reproduction causes the reproduction to be more independent from the original. Also, a technological reproduction can be accessible to the recipient in different ways than the original was. [Alys Cheatle] III Chapter III of Walter Benjamin’s essay addresses the issue of the dynamic nature of human perception with regard to texts. He states that our method of perception is dependent on history in addition to nature. Benjamin argues that art is indicative of the character of perception in its respective historical period. He writes that the art of our own culture indicates that perception is characterized by the decay of the “aura”, the “veil” that distances the viewer from the art. The viewer intrinsically desires proximity to the art he beholds; he attempts to gain understanding or “sameness” by his already-present knowledge of the world. He applies this theory to communism by analyzing the importance of controlling the perception of “the masses”. [Ryan Cooley] IV The aura of a painting is attributed to its embedding within a certain tradition. Although the traditional context of a piece of art may change, its uniqueness or aura still stays intact. All art predating technological reproduction has foundations in ritual, either magical or religious. The age of technological reproducibility emancipated works of art from this dependence to social ritual. This artistic movement changed the historically accepted idea of art, from art with socially representational content to “pure art”, for its inherent reproducible nature. This new artistic theology, pushed art out of ritual and into the realm of politics. [Kristin DeiTos] V Art has two values, one is how valuable the piece is for whatever the piece was made for; the other is the value we can gain from exhibiting it. Art was made at one time only for the religious aspect and was rarely, if ever, shown. The world of art has changed in the importance of each value. Now the art is more made for the second value more then anything. [Anna Eschuk] VI In the art of photography, exhibition value is superior to cult value. This is because a photograph exactly replicates reality, and the viewing of a photograph instantaneously provides information. Benjamin’s example for this is a crime scene photo which is used purely for practical purposes. However, in the early development of photography taking portraits, like paintings, was the primary use. The preservation of loved ones is where cult value in photography is found. [Laura Keating] VII Walter Benjamin, supporter of the theory that art loses its unique aura when it undergoes technological reproducibility, relates this concept to film at its very early stages. When film was just beginning, it could not have been considered a form of art because it did not have its basis in cult, which the traditional forms of art did. Also, because film simply copied the physical world, and therefore had no unique attributes, its rise to the “realm of art” was prevented. Therefore, since film did not have a true purpose it could not be considered to have any artistic characteristics. [Kelly King] VIII The view an audience takes to an actor in a movie differs from that it would take to an actor in a live play because, in a movie, their perspective relates more to the camera, cameraman, and editor than it does to the actor himself. This allows the audience to be more critical of the film actor’s performance because he does not represent something sacred. Since there is a camera, the actor acts for the camera and never directly relates to his audience. As such, a film loses that higher quality possessed by the more intimate staged play. [Joseph Miller] IX Benjamin defines a clear difference between the actors of a stage performance and those of a film. While the actor in the stage performance performs in character before a live audience in real time, a film actor performs for a camera, or what Benjamin calls, “the apparatus”. In addition, the fact that the actor is presenting his character specifically to the camera does not change whether the film contains sound or not; rather, the same idea remains that the actor has a different mode at which to direct his or her performance . Benjamin notes that Pirandello describes the film actor as feeling exiled, “not only from the stage but from his own person” (260). Moreover, the film actor must forgo the surroundings of the stage, and also the norm of the single, uninterrupted performance. Due to this shift, Benjamin believes “the stage actor identifies himself with a role. The film actor very often is denied this opportunity”. Thus, the film actor has the option for editing, alternate effects for producing the desired emotion, and separated into disjointed segments, while the stage actor does not have these means on which to rely. [Erin Murphy] X In Section X, Benjamin discusses the images of actors, which can be transported, with the help of technology, to a vast audience, the source of their money. With the improvement of technology from the printing press to film, the amount of “readers” has increased, thus increasing the amount of “writers.” Just as readers of newspapers became writers giving feedback in editorials, viewers of film can also become actors. However, the actors’ unique impressions are destroyed by what is thought to be demanded by the public and are distorted by the film industry. [Therese-Ann Ngaya] XI Walter Benjamin emphasizes that the technical aspects of cinema (cameras, crew, lighting), unlike any other art form, are visible to an observer unless their view is aligned to that of the camera. Unlike theater, cinema must be edited in order to appear as realistic. Benjamin also says that unlike traditional art forms, cinema is presented to the viewer as many different pieces, or frames, sewn together into a consistent pattern of shots. Cinema, as opposed to a medium like painting, directly submerges itself within the art and gives the audience a sense of inclusion that before film was unimagined. Benjamin concludes that cinema provides the viewer with a seemingly unaltered picture of reality while benefiting from all of the effects of technology. [Jeff Outwater] XII Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility explores the technological field of photography. He discusses the consequences of its invention, the influence of photography on art, and its role in the effect of modern media on society. Chapter XII focuses on art as experienced by a culture, and the ability of reproducibility fashioned by photography. Art, as in paintings and museums, had been previously experienced by the elite class and thus left up to their interpretation. Photography extends art out to the public and allows for individual response. Paintings were not meant to be reproducible, photographs are. [Samantha Ritts] XIII [Robert Marshall] XIV Dadaism is a fundamental attempt at a creation of art that attempts to imitate film. Benjamin writes that many art forms are not appreciated until much later, once they are dead; and that often these old art forms come from strong historically "decadent" time periods. Any new art form will land far beyond its intended goal and Dadaism was no exception. Dadaism was, however, an odd form of art that bred behavior that is socially less accepted. It was distracting, and "tactile"(267). In fact, it rivaled the venue of film in its effects. [Mary Lynn Seery] XV According to Walter Benjamin, the art of film actively engages the audience in participation as it both distracts its viewers and forces them to focus upon it simultaneously. Through watching the film, a person becomes a part of it as it becomes a part of him or her, as with all forms of art. A particular example of this is architecture. Other types of art come in trends, but the need for buildings has and will always exist. Through distraction, the audience is able to receive more information from the film while they evaluate it as art. [Lydia Wypasek] |
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