User:Niek Hilkmann/Reading, Writing & Research Methodologies 2012/2013/Synopsis - Jos de Mul - The work of art in the age of digital recombination

Media, used here in the broad sense as ‘means for presenting information’, 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). Aesthetic experience is no exception: artistic media are interfaces that not only structure the imagination of the artist, but the work of art and the aesthetic reception as well.In this paper Jos de Mul aims to contribute to this reflection by analyzing the way the computer interface constitutes and structures aesthetic experience. He does this in relation to Walter Benjamin's 'Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. The thesis he defends in this paper are, first, 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.

He begins with a short explanation of Benjamin's views. He points out that before the introduction of mechanical reproduction the work of art’s dominant type was characterized by uniqueness (Einmaligkeit) and singularity (Einzigkeit) in time and space. According to Benjamin the unique existence of the work of art determines the history to which it is subject throughout the time of its existence. Another word that Benjamin uses to designate the material and historical authenticity and authority of the unique work of art is ‘aura’. The unique value of the ‘authentic’ work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value. In a footnote Benjamin introduces the concept of cult value, and he connects it with its aura. Unapproachability is a major quality of the cult image. It remains ‘distant, however close it may be.’ Jos de Mul suggests that one might say that the auratic work of art acts as an interface between the sensible and the supersensible. It is important to notice that in the auratic work of art the sensible and the supersensible, the material signifier and the spiritual meaning, are inseparably linked with one another. As such, the auratic work of art, as Gadamer states in The relevance of the beautiful in connection with a short but illuminating discussion of Benjamin’s essay, can be conceived of as a symbol. It is also important to notice that for Benjamin the experience of aura is not restricted to historical objects such as works of art.

One of the basic claims of Benjamin’s ‘The work of art’ is that in the age of mechanical reproduction by means of print, photography and film, we experience a radical loss of aura. One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. Uniqueness and permanence of the auratic object are being replaced by transitoriness and reproducibility. In the media of mechanical reproduction the whole distinction between original and copy loses its meaning. According to Benjamin, together with the aura, the cult value of artworks will gradually vanish. Rather, in photography and film, the cult value gives way to exhibition value, which is precisely situated in the endless reproduction of the copies. Mechanical reproduction discloses the world in a new way, bringing along both new opportunities and new dangers.

After this explanation De Mul ponders upon the concept of the database and the way the current digital age differs from Benjamin's age of mechanical reproduction. Understood as a medium, the computer is not one but many. Although concrete media art works may differ from each other in many different respects – and for that reason show a family resemblance rather than a single essence – on a fundamental level they all share the four basic operations of persistent storage, an integral part of almost all computer software. This ABCD of computing consists of the operations Add, Browse, Change, and Destroy. Together these four operations – which correspond to the structured query language (SQL) commands Insert, Select, Update, and Delete – constitute the dynamic elements of what we might call a database ontology. In computing, a database can be defined as a structured collection of data records that is stored in a computer, so that a software program can consult it to answer queries. Databases often function as material metaphors. This happens when they evoke acts in the material world. In addition, databases may create a surplus of meaning, on top of their instrumental function. In that case the database functions as a conceptual metaphor which structures our experience of ourselves and of the world. As Manovich states, databases have become the dominant cultural form of the computer age. They are ‘ontological machines’ that shape both our world and our world view. In the age of digital databases, everything – nature and culture alike – becomes an object for recombination and manipulation.

Both Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q. and Kac’s fluo rabbit raise the question of whether they are a work of art since they both employ a new, seemingly non-artistic medium of production as a means for artistic expression, questioning the very distinction between artistic and non-artistic objects. Whereas in the age of mechanical reproduction it was already becoming difficult to distinguish between the artistic and non-artistic functions of the reproduction – hence, for example, the aesthetization of politics and the politization of art which plays such an important role in Benjamin’s essay – in the age of digital recombination, the distinction seems to get blurred altogether.

Manipulation becomes a new criterium for the consideration of art. The aesthetic quality of a work strongly depends on the elegance of the structure of the database and its user interface. As soon as the database play becomes a goal in itself, the database becomes an autonomous 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 a return of the aura.The digitally recombined work of art regains something of its ritual dimension. It becomes an interface between the sensible and the supersensible again, now no longer located in the history of the work, but in its virtuality, that is: the intangible totality of possible recombinations. Because of their manipulability, digital objects seem to be inherently unstable, like the performing arts process rather than product. Digital recombination as a means of production is no less political than mechanical reproduction. Power, political power included, is becoming increasingly dependent on the ability to manipulate information. Digitally recombined works of art differ from other digitally recombined objects because they have a reflective quality as well. A work of art challenges its recipients by directing their attention to the medium itself. Gradually, we become aware of the inapproachability of the workings of a technology that we have invented.