Annotation: Joe De Mul

Reading/writing: joe de mul Annotation

Jos de Mul

Media is not an innocent instrument

The presenting of information through media is filtered through the sensibility of the individual

"it is generally assumed that media play a crucial role in the configuration of the human mind and experience. Media are interfaces that mediate not only between us and our world (designation), but also between us and our fellow man (communication), and between us and ourselves (self-understanding)." We understand the world through media, we understand each other through this media and shared options/interests, and we communicate our ideas through a self understanding, and through comparisons of our perception of media

Asthetics are also a big part of how this information is crafted and perceived : style, methods, taste

In this essay, the author aims to : analyze the way the computer interface constitutes and structures aesthetic experience of media. How does the computer interface change the way we interact and experience media?

Starting point of the debate is water Benjamin's claim that the "cult value" of an art work has been replaced by the "exhibition value".

Mul states that : " that in the age of digital recombination, the database constitutes the ontological model of the work of art and, secondly, that in this transformation the exhibition value is being replaced by what we might call manipulation value ."

The scope of both essays is broader than just art, but" It deals with the digital manipulation of nature and culture that characterizes the present ‘ age of informatization"

Art: before film and photography: "arts dominant type was characterised by uniqueness"

" The original work of art is here and now" : the aura

Benjamin says: " Because of this aura, the unique work of art can easily become an object of a magical or religious cult." Aura elevates the work of art to be something beyond a simple or natural object, but something that can possess a spiritual quality: the aura.

Aura: "the auratic work of art the sensible and the supersensible, the material signifier and the spiritual meaning, are inseparably linked with one another."

Art works in modern day are objects of the cult of beauty "This ritualistic basis, however remote, is still recognizable as secularized ritual even in the most profane forms of the cult of beauty ."

"Cult image" : no matter how physically close, one remains far away

• • • • • • need clarification on what benjamins view on distance is********

"When we apply a key concept of the new media studies to Benjamin ’ s analysis, we might say that the auratic work of art acts as an interface between the sensible and the supersensible, that is: between the physical materiality of the work of art and its meaningful history. Although it may be close in its material presence– we could even touch the Mona Lisa if there were no glass separating it from its visitors in the Louvre– and as such it brings us in close contact with its history, at the same time we experience the historical tradition in which it is embedded and from which it derives its meaning as an unbridgeable distance."

Aura and symbol: " can be conceived of as a symbol. The destruction of an auratic work destroys the distant presence of its history as well. For that reason the destruction of an auratic work of art is generally understood as an act of blasphemy– independent of whether it has a religious content or not." If an original work is destroyed, our connection backwards to the time in history which the object represents is forever severed.

Benjamin says : " that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art "

Mul thinks that : " Uniqueness and permanence of the auratic object are being replaced by transitoriness and reproducibility." Art is more accessible. reproduction: the whole distinction between original and copy loses its meaning.

"To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility" Art works are beginning to be created with the intention to create mass reproductions. spread the image wide, and influence more. Not replying on the aura to bring the effect, but relying on the far reach of the mass produced object.

"According to Benjamin, together with the aura, the cult value of artworks will gradually vanish. For emotional or economical reasons one can, of course, try to conserve the cult value" If the aura eventually vanishes anyway, then why not use other techniques, like mass production, to ensure the the message of symbolic meaning of the image is spread through quantity?

"in photography and film, the cult value gives way to exhibition value , which is precisely situated in the endless reproduction of the copies."

The value of a work, object, or figure is no longer the auaristic experience but on the exhibition value. Fame, popularity, demand.

Benjamin’ s essay has melancholic undertones, and he acts as if art will die, eventually, with this loss of aura. But at the same time, "Benjamin also expresses his belief that the ‘ mechanical media ’ possess a fundamental democratic and even revolutionary potential. Not only do they enable ‘ access for all ’ , they also enable the progressive artist to ‘ politicize the arts ’ and mobilize the masses against the fascist ‘ aesthetization of politics "

"The development of mechanical reproduction can neither simply be hailed as cultural progress nor simply doomed as cultural decline. Mechanical reproduction discloses the world in a new way, bringing along both new opportunities and new dangers. We should keep this fundamental ambiguity of the development of media in mind when we turn our attention to digital recombination"

Database ontology: "Understood as a medium, the computer is not one but many" "As the number of recombinations of a database is almost infinite, the work of art in the age of digital recombination brings about a return of the aura" Computer art works bring an entirely new method of creating work, a new environment, a new type of evolution. Web art: Add, Browse, Change, Destroy: The life of an art work has changed in a computer.

"Database ontology is dynamic because the data elements can be constantly combined, decombinded, and recombined"

Everything is entering into the database. There is a mechanization of the world view. Everything from nature because an object for recombination and manipulation

The world view is no longer limited to the scope of natural history, but has been expanded into the possibilities laid out to us by technology

There is now a more complex question between what is a work of art, and what is a contemporary object "Benjamin remarks, there is no timeless answer to the question of whether a particular object should be regarded as a work of art".

Astheticization of Politics and the Politization of Art

Everyone becomes the cuator themselves as they edit and taper what the allow to be apart of their personal input, and what they do not.

Manipulation value: "In the age of digital recombination, the value of an object depends on the extend of its openness for manipulation"

A collection of works has more to offer a researcher than the single work of art in its original form. "The database becomes an autonmous work of art" "As the number of recombinations of a database is almost infinite, the work of art in the age of digital recombination brings about the reutrn of the aura." each new search becomes a new combination of the data

digital objects are unstable, and therefor come with a new set of variables.

"Digitally recombined work of art regains something of its ritual. it becomes an interface between sensible, and supersensibile...no longer located in history but in virtuality"

Exhibition value vs Manipulation Value

Political art: "A work of art challenges its recipients by directing their attention to the medium itself. works of art are not political because they manipulate politics, but because they reflect on the politics of manipulation" someone who views this type of art work will become aware of the politics of representation and manipulation. this is something that the computer is not capable of humans apply meaning to everything, and a work of art created by a computer can not have assigned true meaning to it. we look for symbolic value, and metaphor.