Bruce Hill
Grad Art Seminar - Week 3
Walter Benjamin assignment

Benjamin argues that "aura" is a unique element of a work of art that is eliminated by mechanical reproduction. His concept of authenticity seems to be based, not on any intrinsic aesthetic qualities, in a work of art, but rather on external attributes such as "its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be", physical condition and line of ownership. A work of art is detached from the domain of tradition by substituting a plurality of copies for uniqueness, but is "re-activated" by the ability to meet the viewer in ones own particular situation. Benjamin states the "aura" of a work has its basis in ritual, the location of its original value.

To Benjamin, mechanical reproduction in film especially, gave the viewer no opportunity for contemplation, which he viewed as a school for asocial behavior. Distraction better allows the mass to absorb a work of art, rather than being absorbed by it. For the mass, collective experiences, with less association with bourgeois power structure was preferred. "The greater the decrease in social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public." "Exhibition value" is increased by technical reproductions of an art work to such an extent that a qualitative transformation takes place.

For a socialist, art should have a social function. When the "criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed." Art should be political rather than politics being artistic, according to Benjamin.

I would say the sue of computers, digital media and internet are changing the ways we sue and perceive art. This was prophesied by Paul Valery and quoted by Benjamin, "....so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign."