User:Manetta/summary-a-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction

summary : a work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction by Walter Benjamin

I --- mechanical reproduction as standard

"In principle a work of art has always been reproducible. Man-made artifacts could always be imitated by men." But with the coming of the lithography, it was possible to illustrate everyday life. Only a few decades later "lithography was surpassed by photography", with a reproduction speed that "could keep pace with speech". Reproduction has become a standard, which can be studies best by revealing the influence of mechanical reproduction on {works of art} and the {art of film}.

II --- original & authenticity

"Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be." The act of considering an object as being original is closely related to the concept of authenticity. Though there is a different notion of authenticity within mechinal- or manual reproduction, "the reason is twofold":

1: "process reproduction is more independent of the original than manual reproduction."
2: "technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself."

"Above all, it enables the original to meet the beholder halfway", which "reactivated the object reproduced". Authenticity is the essence of a thing, "ranging from its substantive duration to it testimony to the history which it has experienced".

III --- perception & the mass

" (...) the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity's entire mode of existence." To show the influence of mechanical reproduction is to "show the social transformations expressed by these changes of perception". Changes, that are connected to the following two circumstances of the "increasing significance of the masses in contemporary life":

1: "the desire of contemporary masses to bring things 'closer' spatially and humanly", by accepting the reproduction of reality.

2: "[t]he adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality"

(Which is part of the following quote): "Thus is manifested in the field of perception what in the theoretical sphere is noticeable in the increasing importance of statistics. The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a process of unlimited scope, as much for thinking as for perception."

!!! --> statistics --> data mining as a method to structure the masses of data, and to be able to say something about the present correlation in the database.

IV --- ritual & politics

"The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable form its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition. This tradition itself is thoroughly alive and extremely changeable."

"(...) the unique value of the 'authentic' work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value." An example of this is the depicting of Venus by the Greek as an 'object of veneration'.

Because of the upcoming present of photography during the Renaissance, the fuction of art wasn't longer directly involved in rituals. This lead to the 'l'art pour 'l'art' movement, which - denied any social function of art - denied categorizing by subject matter

"For the first tim in world history, mechanical reproduction" is emancipated from ritual." "To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility."

"Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practise---politics."