thoughts on «The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin»
Reproductions ‘lack in time and space’. Because of a work’s “historical circumstances” (or lack thereof), its presence or ‘aura’ as a reproduction can become watered down.
Just as any changes in ownership ultimately determine a work’s history, so can its physical location in the world – this makes us consider not only the ‘who’, but also the ‘where’.
In a lot of cases, if something gains a cult following, it becomes less about atmosphere and sophistication, and more about distribution and consistency.
It’s difficult to think of a time when anything being produced to be sold, was one-of-a-kind, with no cheaper, mass-produced alternative. This socioeconomic spectrum comes from an increasing significance of the masses, and the importance of the ‘middle man”s voice. The idea that designing can only amount to either a ritualistic piece, or something with a cult-following is unnecessarily polarizing. This makes me think about how I define design and why people make art in the first place. Maybe good design lies somewhere in between something being well-made or in good taste, but also be made sustainably accessible to as many people as possible.
The idea of accessible art is not welcome to many people who prefer traditional, or ritualistic art. There are fears of the information being exposed to the wrong people, but can this truly be justified when there is such a massive, ever-expanding collection of open-source information on the web, and smaller, niche communities are still able to form naturally.
It almost begs the question: is the value of ‘a unique existence’ growing stuffy? By actively rejecting capitalism and unwarranted surveillance, we are creating a “sharing economy” (ie Uber, Wikipedia, Airbnb). Ignorance is no longer bliss. Becoming informed can be as Googling something. Detaching from the “domain of tradition” can be a liberating idea. After all, opposing or amending and rituals is natural and what presses history onward.
Both design and contemporary art must always consider art in all sense – art deeply rooted in history, AND art just for art’s sake. When art starts becoming designed for reproducibility, the total function of art is reversed from being based on ritual and precedence, to politics and reform.
Art continues to serve as a reflection of modern culture. What becomes necessary for people to be exposed to art and also comprehend its meaning also speaks on the current state of our culture as a whole. For example introduction of text – news, captions, press releases, the little white square descriptions next to paintings – provide context but also can be rendered manipulative as they prime your opinion on things that would otherwise be freely subjective or unbiased.
