Article by Walter Benjamin (1936) transcribed by A.Blunden 1998.
The article covers the developmental tendencies of art, its concepts changing from creativity, genius, eternal value and mystery to those of mass-serving and formulation of "revolutionary demands in the politics of art" (p.2). The significant changes can be attributed to the advancement and new discoveries related to technology.
Mechanical reproduction brings new impacts to the meaning and interpretation of art. Such as photography which "frees the hand of the most important artistic functions" (p.2) and accelerated the process of pictorial reproduction to keep pace with speech (p.3). Photography helps to capture images that escape the naked eye and make it possible to place the copy of the original into "situations which would be out of reach for the original itself" (p.4).
"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" (p.4), where each object of art has its aura. The historical circumstances determine the medium for organizing the human sense perception and these changes are the medium of social transformations (p. 5). The process of reality adjusting to the masses and masses to reality is of unlimited scope (p.5).
Works of art are received and valued based on their cult and exhibition values. When originally artistic production is that of ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult then today the work of art has absolute emphasis in its exhibition value (p. 7). This shifts the reality of the production where there is illusionary nature of movie as a result of cutting (p. 12). But for the reality presented by film is incomparably more significant than that of a painter, as it offers an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment (p. 13). Camera also reveals the unconscious optics that remain invisible to the naked eye (p.15). Thus the aura of technology facilitated production is fading to the background putting the public in the role of the unconscious critic (p.17). And mass directs the traditional behaviour towards works of art to a new form, where quality has replaced the quantity (p. 16). It is a commonplace that masses look for distraction but art asks for concentration (p. 17).
In conclusion there are various aspects that determine the meaning and popularity of a work of art. Where masses decide for the paths there the work of are is less concentrated and not total one as it composes of multiple particles separated and joined to each other offering a new representation to the reality.
The article covers the developmental tendencies of art, its concepts changing from creativity, genius, eternal value and mystery to those of mass-serving and formulation of "revolutionary demands in the politics of art" (p.2). The significant changes can be attributed to the advancement and new discoveries related to technology.
Mechanical reproduction brings new impacts to the meaning and interpretation of art. Such as photography which "frees the hand of the most important artistic functions" (p.2) and accelerated the process of pictorial reproduction to keep pace with speech (p.3). Photography helps to capture images that escape the naked eye and make it possible to place the copy of the original into "situations which would be out of reach for the original itself" (p.4).
"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" (p.4), where each object of art has its aura. The historical circumstances determine the medium for organizing the human sense perception and these changes are the medium of social transformations (p. 5). The process of reality adjusting to the masses and masses to reality is of unlimited scope (p.5).
Works of art are received and valued based on their cult and exhibition values. When originally artistic production is that of ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult then today the work of art has absolute emphasis in its exhibition value (p. 7). This shifts the reality of the production where there is illusionary nature of movie as a result of cutting (p. 12). But for the reality presented by film is incomparably more significant than that of a painter, as it offers an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment (p. 13). Camera also reveals the unconscious optics that remain invisible to the naked eye (p.15). Thus the aura of technology facilitated production is fading to the background putting the public in the role of the unconscious critic (p.17). And mass directs the traditional behaviour towards works of art to a new form, where quality has replaced the quantity (p. 16). It is a commonplace that masses look for distraction but art asks for concentration (p. 17).
In conclusion there are various aspects that determine the meaning and popularity of a work of art. Where masses decide for the paths there the work of are is less concentrated and not total one as it composes of multiple particles separated and joined to each other offering a new representation to the reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment