| traditional art | art in the age of reproducibility |
| aura | decay of aura |
| unique existence ("here and now") | mass existence |
| "authenticity"-originality | multiplicity |
| distance | closeness |
| ritual basis | political basis |
| cult value | exhibition value |
| contemplation | distraction [Zerstreung] |
| art absorbs viewer | viewer absorbs art |
| painting | architecture, photography, film |
| masses react in hostility | masses react progressively |
| fascism | communism |
| aestheticizing of politics | politicizing of art |
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility" (1939)
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A quick correction on the last few distinctions, I think...
ReplyDeleteBoth fascism and the aestheticization of politics (as well as Communism and the politicization of aesthetics) are enabled by technical reproducibility. This is why the change is, for Benjamin, profoundly ambivalent.
I see the differences but I think they have a diffuse barrier that allow them to fluctuate in both ages. For example, the notion of "aura": in the age of mechanical reproduction things still have an "aura" in some way, and for this, original masterpieces costs a lot of money and museums even cannot afford them (less their assurance)... Although it possibly is not the same aura as Benjamin is talking about (?)
ReplyDelete@ theoriesbites: I think that this "new aura" that you speak of has to do with "La estética moderna como ideología para consumidores" (Canclini, 61)
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