Benjamin’s article speaks to the reproduction of art and how it has diminished its appreciation of aesthetics. Technology today has greatly influenced how art can be viewed. Overall, I agree with Benjamin. If you go to a museum today, youre caught behind a sea of iphones and cameras while you try to appreciate the work. It adds a buffer to how art should be viewed in a gallery. Typically the viewer and piece have a interactive relationship that are connected by sight. Scale is a fundamental aspect on its relationship to the viewer. With technology creeping into play, the viewer can be discouraged from an intimate interaction with a piece of art. A group of viewers now become integrated with the experience which questions if a galleries method of portrayal is consistent with the viewer and the piece. The reproduction from the viewers allows a piece to lose its ‘aura.’ it is trapped in the buffer.
In the writing, ‘The Medium is the message’ the author Marshall McLuhan illustrates with various examples that each medium is independent of the content it delivers and has its own inherent effects on the masses. The medium’s content doesn’t matter as much does the outcome matters. It is well introduced through the text that more than the content the medium serves the scale and enhances the human relationship. The medium is basically an extension of our thoughts. The messages received through the medium are the underpinning of one’s perceptions of certain things or the content of the medium. Marshall very aptly puts forth the medium’s content is determined by its value or the message that it delivers. The rational thoughts in the book are of provocative nature, they emphasize on the influence the media medium has on human associations and it repercussions. He also states that any medium also has a powerful impact of proposing notions on the gullible people’s mind which is true to its sense. The mediums can in any convincing way influence people’s thoughts. The inference drawn about a person is a master of own thoughts is very well illustrated through the sentence ‘The serious artist is the only person to encounter ethnology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes of his perception.’
Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ scrutinizes how mass media influences people and also explores its political and economic influences on the society. The essay at various nodes of Art, Photography, and Film etc. dwells in comprehending people’s perception over the evolution of art and media and also thereby discusses about the evolution of human psychology in the realm of reproduction. The human perception as mentioned is truly evolving with time and does rely only on natural but historical circumstances as well which help in critical and rational citizen’s growth. The comparison of art then and now and its authencity over the years, the cult value & exhibition values of the art work, the changing times of art being a ritual to turning in consumerism are some of the demeriting stances according to author which have been molding human perceptions over a period of time. Although one might also say exclusion of aura in a way does help in creation of self-identity. At certain times, the author’s thoughts are not as radical as they should be but rather sound irrational and not convincing. For example when he distinguishes between the theatre actor and film actor, he mentions about theatre actor doing convincing job whereas it nowhere the actor’s plot nor the technical job but the scripts part to convince the audience. The essay significantly comprehends technology aided de-aestheticization of the artwork in modernity.
Both authors are relatively on same page when we consider human insights and their evolution although it is kind of paradoxical how each one views the outcomes or repercussions of one’s insight. McLuhan very optimistically states that the medium is message which help us form our insight although there’s a fine line between forming the perceptions and the medium hovering our perceptions or influencing us. Benjamin at the same time reclines that the human perceptions evolve with media or reproduction and make us more critical citizens which is partially true according to me.
In the text of ‘the medium is the message’ by Marshall McLuhan, he is more concerned about the obvious observations we tend to perceive or observe, unknowingly or unconsciously avoiding the other several perspective evolved through the process. He clearly mentions that the observations we focus upon are the obvious once as we think about it (with some presumptions) during it gestation. Hence the process is very critical in any innovation or creation. Equally he states that the medium of a message (equally holds a vital position and determines the ways in which we identify the message. The examples of light bulb, railway, chicken or egg etc. given in the article are very effective to understand this conception. ‘The railway did not introduce movement or transportation but is accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions’.
I also could relate Facebook as an example in this scenario. During the evolution of the project, Mark Zuckerberg aimed to create social platform for friends and families but never thought about the other distinct perspectives of using this platform for advertisement, business, employment etc. Here the social platform was the idea or that way idea was perceived, internet and technology was the medium and message was connecting life, connecting people on various levels. He simultaneously writes that, ‘The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.’ The mechanical technology and automation has its own positives and negative on the notion of ‘the medium is the message’ – as mentioned in the article, ‘General Sarnoff went on to explain his attitude to the technology of print, saying that it was true that print caused much trash to circulate, but it had also disseminated the Bible and the thoughts of seers and philosophers’. The following is one my favorite sentences from the text – ‘The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense 9 ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance. The serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in sense perception’. The smart control over the process and perception offers more than the obvious and make you to see that wasn’t there.
The other article, ‘The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’ by Walter Benjamin talks about (majorly) the disadvantages of mechanical reproduction on several layers like – authenticity, aura of the ‘original’ art, distribution of uniqueness of artwork imbedded in the fabric of tradition, cult values, progressive reactions of the audience etc. The article states that any original artwork always lacks in terms of its presence in time and unique space. The reproducibility due to the advancement in technology creates the question about the originality if the art work also in writer’s point of view it demeans the ‘aura’ of the artwork. The idea is conveyed with the example of camera (photography, film) – a method of reproduction in modern age. ‘The desire of contemporary masses to bring things ‘closer’ spatially and humanly’. However, in my opinion the concept of aura to the reproduction is relative. The example of summer afternoon with a mountain range on the horizon is a unique setting to experience in person, to enjoy its aura.
It’s the setting with the natural artwork which renders our experience towards the setting. However looking at any original painting in person or its photograph doesn’t necessarily degrades its aura because in both the cases our process of visualization is open ended. Same logic with film and theatre plays. I recognized the fact that the camera in movie decides the way we see it although my basic critic is in both the cases the artwork is scripted – the dialogues, characters, moves, lights, sets etc. In theatre plays the lighting design indirectly asks us to focus on particular details at times. And for an actor in my opinion, whether he is performing in front of live audience or camera character of the role remains important which he performs with his individual identities. This article related with the idea of ‘the medium is the message’ as it helps us to see the miscellaneous perspectives (negatives) of mechanical technology and automation which we (consciously/unconsciously) overlooked under the tag of innovation and modern age.
The article “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin provides an explicit analysis of how transformation of art in time could modify not only its techniques but also the notion of art itself. The author elicits different changes in our perception of the art by pervasive nature of mechanization and automation. New techniques of art works’ reproduction, as a lithography or printing, allowed to produce creative works in quantity, thus accelerate development of automation of creative processes. By means of these advancements in techniques nowadays we have photography and film making, which radically changed reproduction of creative works and at the same time our perception and understanding of a “true art”. According to the author, any reproduction of art is always deprived of “its unique existence at the place where it happens to be”. Hence, the work of art loses its unique “aura” and it negatively affects its authority. On the one hand it promoted our acceptance of reproduction and “sense of universal equality of things.” On the other hand, it could promote an authority of the art work, by means of attracting attention of the public and at the same time encouraging people to experience a unique “aura” of the original piece of art.
Advancements in technologies affect not only our perception of art but also our life and culture itself by means of different media. All kinds of new media transform our previous traditions and habits. With a high pace of technological development we achieved efficiency and extended our abilities with help of different media. M. McLuhan’s work on “The Medium is The Message” depicts pervasive power of the message achieved by medium. According to him, “content of any medium is always another medium”. Media is a mean of our interaction with the world or other human beings or even “an extension of ourselves”. So, different forms of art are a communication tool and any changes in forms of its delivery affects human perception of it.
In these ambiguous circumstances human awareness of the action of media and its pervasive nature could evoke our individual reaction and prevent an acceptance of media impact. Moreover, our society is always surrounded by diverse kinds of media, so it influences human sense perception and acts on a psychological level inevitably. Hence, mankind exposed itself to irreversible change in the name of technologies.
From the reading, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin, I am very interested in his analysis of our engagement of different forms of art and how it has changed from appreciating its craft and beauty as a object into art which blends and allows for a reflection into our societal realities. As successfully argued by Benjamin, technology can make reproductions of art superior than the originals, through processes including, but not limited to, slow motion technology or the ability to zoom in on a subject, in present day cinematic experience. Using the notion of historical precedent, pervious art only looked at “perfect” objects in society because man made objects didn’t have the ability to be produced quickly or efficiently enough work to show larger societal changes. Therefore, reproductions by mechanical systems and redundancy can allow one to reflect on the quality of the original and decay the beautiful aura in historical art can show contemporary societal vulnerability.
As compliment to Walter Benjamin, Marshall McLuhan’s ideology in “The Medium is the Message” examines the relationship of the human and our intelligence to technological mediums. As examined by McLuhan, mediums and the media of technology are ultimately extensions of ourselves and our self constructed reality. The area of interest in the text comes from the statement about how content of a medium is separated from the form which the media takes. For instance, in the text the example of print media is discussed as a form which carries content. However, the usual interpretation and reflection of print media such as the newspaper is not the paper material itself or the ink that is on the page, rather it is the story or message its describing. This allows for the reader or the engagement with mediums to detach itself from the art of medium into the message that the medium presents to the viewer.
In the era of technological advancement, art has taken a big hit in terms of originality and distinctiveness. It has allowed people to have the ability to obtain rare works of art and to also have the opportunity to view them. In the passage, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin, it states that “…the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition”. This process has caused many forms of art to, as Benjamin would say, lose its aura. The aura that art works consist of is rare and very unique. The aura is made up of the art’s presence in time and space, its existence at the place, and its history of its existence throughout time (such as the changes it may have suffered in physical condition over the years, like changes in its ownership). Although, mechanical reproduction was able to produce new works of art as well, such as film and photography. Some may argue that the new technologies have guided us more towards a brainless society. But in the film industry’s defense, there is an art form when it comes to making film and photography. “The film responds to the shriveling of the aura with an artificial build-up of the ‘personality’ outside of the studio…” The artist is forcing the viewer to view things in their perspective, in other words, the artists are making them view their own world in a different angle and to see things they are usually not exposed to. If anything these advancements haven’t veered us towards a brainless society, but rather a society that has learned to benefit from these advancements. New art forms have arisen from these technological movements. Art forms such as Dadaism! As stated in Marshall McLuhan’s passage, “The Medium is the Message”, “The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value…Apple pie is in itself neither good or bad; it is the way it is used that determines its value.” Yes, technology has allowed people to replicate fine works of art, but technology has also allowed us as a society, to advance. The “message” of technology is the change of scale, pace, or pattern being introduced and woven into our daily lives. For example, the railroad; it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions. It has allowed us to create larger cities and to trade, and to transport! In other words, they would be “content” of the medium (the railroad). Another example of content and medium would be the activities we are able do due to the electric light. Without one, the other couldn’t exist. “…it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action.”
