Tuesday, April 29, 2008

TUTURAIL BLOGGING TASK #5
Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?
The ideas from Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” applies to digital media because Benjamin discus’s digital media though out.
There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?
Once to be considered to be an artist you had to have talent in painting, drawing or sculpture. Now with the use of computers anyone can create an artwork, and it can depict anything thus letting anyone able to create there own perception on a certain topic or way of seeing.
Is a photo shopped image "authentic"?
According to Benjamin a photo shopped image can not be considered to be authentic this is because for it to be authentic it shouldn’t be produced in a technical way (computer) and it can also not able to be reproduced to the original. In which a photo shopped image can be reproduced by simply just printing it again.

Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?
Benjamin used the word aura to refer to the reverence one experienced in the presence of unique works of art. The aura inheres not only the object but the external attributes such as its published authenticity. The arrival of art’s mechanical reproducibility and the developments of new art forms. In which there are no actual original it leads to the shattering of the aura.

No comments: