Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin
‘The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ 1936

Institute of Social Research, University of Frankfurt, 1923-33

            University of Columbia New York 1933-47

            University of Frankfurt, 1949-

Theodore Adorno

Max Horkheimer

Herbert Marcuse

Leo Lowenthal                      

Walter Benjamin – Stayed in EU, killed himself in Spain

- group of thinkers. Radical. Marxist thought

How do people let evil dictators come to power?
Adorno Horkheimer – believed the media persuaded people.

Marxist.org – Marxist publications for free. Benjamins Essay is on here
Idea of art formulated a long time ago that was near myth. This essay modernises the conception of art. Our notion of art radically altered by advances in technology.

‘The transformation of the superstructure, which takes place far more slowly than that of the substructure, has taken more than half a century to manifest in all areas of culture the change in the conditions of production. Only today can it be indicated what form this has taken. Certain prognostic requirements should be met by these statements. However, theses about the art of the proletariat after its assumption of power or about the art of a classless society would have less bearing on these demands than theses about the developmental tendencies of art under present conditions of production. Their dialectic is no less noticeable in the superstructure than in the economy. It would therefore be wrong to underestimate the value of such theses as a weapon. They brush aside a number of outmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery – concepts whose uncontrolled (and at present almost uncontrollable) application would lead to a processing of data in the Fascist sense. The concepts which are introduced into the theory of art in what follows differ from the more familiar terms in that they are completely useless for the purposes of Fascism. They are, on the other hand, useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art.’

New technologies by reproduction e.g the printing press, lithographic and photographic. Massive scale

What effects the reproduced have on the original. Status. How does the original change?

Guttenberg oress 1440. Stops education being for the elite. Could reproducing art have the same affect?
Becomes less obvious which has more authority, the original or the copy

Technological Reproduction of Art removes-

Presence             -

Authenticity        -         AURA

Authority           -

Mona Lisa- free to look at whenever, wherever. People have the ability to come to their own conclusions. Recontextualised. Reproducing takes it into areas it isn’t supposed to be in. Pop culture, fashion, kitsch. Kitsch recycling.

We now approach the Mona Lisa saying ‘Hay theres that picture that I’ve seen before’ changes how you approach it. The status and the power of the work is diminished/ eroded. The audience creates interpretations for themselves.

‘One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. This is a symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art. One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence. And in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own particular situation, it reactivates the object reproduced. These two processes lead to a tremendous shattering of tradition which is the obverse of the contemporary crisis and renewal of mankind. Both processes are intimately connected with the contemporary mass movements. Their most powerful agent is the film. Its social significance, particularly in its most positive form, is inconceivable without its destructive, cathartic aspect, that is, the liquidation of the traditional value of the cultural heritage.’

Cult Value

Earliest art forms, object of magic, cults, mystery, we not meant for display, were in the back dark parts of caves.
Religious art, cult art.

The cult of ritualistic value of art still remains. Superstitious mysticism.

This can be seen in the way people travel to galleries to see artwork.

Like a Pilgrimage.  Artwork is up steps so you physically have to raise  yourself to the artwork. You are beneath it.

One has to follow a ritual. A pre prescribed way.

You are supposed to feel a certain way, to blindly follow

-Now technology is taking art out of this ritual. Out of the temple of culture. Shift of power from the institution to the individual.

Louise Lawler- Takes photos of fine art out of their normal place.

We can redraw the hierarchy, structure with technology. The work of art becomes designed for reproduction.

Sherrie Levine, After Walker Evans(1979) took a photo of  Walker Evans, Hale County, Alabama (1936) and called it her own. Is it a new work because she took the photo? She has taken to context from the image and makes it a piece about what art can be/ get away with.

Digital reproduction – new technologies allowing us to reshape power structures.

The cult of the beautiful

New technologies are making the original seem outdated, irrelevant.

e.g painting had to change with the creation of the camera and the photograph. An attempt to reintroduce Aura to art as new technologies take it away.

-the notion of beauty

- art was never meant to be seen by the masses.

New technologies make it for everyone.

Cinema radically threaten/ changes art

Dunhamel- ‘Mechanical Reproduction changes the reaction of art towards the masses toward art. The reactionary attitude toward a Picasso painting changes into a progressive reaction toward a Chaplin movie. The progressive reaction is characterised by the direct, intimate fusion of visual and emotional enjoyment with the orientation of the expert’written at the same time as Benjamin.

Technological reproduction of art removes-

Creativity -

Genius -

Eternal value -

Tradition -                              AURA

Authority -

Authenticity -

Autonomy -

Distance -

Mystery –

Something is better than you. Allowing Fascism. Benjamin says that very similar to how we look at art.