Walter Benjamin

This was a complicated reading, that did make me think. It raised a few interesting points concerning the reproduction and replication of art, and the ulimate impact this has had upon society and the way in which it has changed the purpose of art itself.

Walter Benjamin introduces the idea that the growing standard of reproduction has ulimately led to a change, from art as an individual and select medium, that was only available to the wealthy upper class who could afford to own and experience it, to a trend towards mass communication and a closing of class divisions, as art slowly become more widely available to the general public. -Art's purpose has changed with the times.

Therefore it raises the question of whether or not, in today's digital society has the original importance, individuality and authenticity of art remained within our culture? Or has it lost that 'aura'(as refered to by Walter benjamin) of the original art works importance with every reproduction of it. Does it sort of sell-out on its original purpose? has it changed its original purpose? Can our modern day reproductions claim to still have the 'aura's' of their original pieces? Benjamin argues that they do not, he claims that with repliaction an art work is removed from its shell and detached from what it was when it was first created. Does the ultimate meaning of the artwork change throughout this process?

The idea of manipulation is ever present in our digital society. With just the click of a button an original artwork can be changed/ manipulated. This may or may not have an impact upon the original message and perception of the artwork, therefore its original 'aura' has been compromised. The way in which a person may recieve the artwork, the message intended to be conveyed has been changed from the original. The reliabilty of a photograph, in todays digital world is an example of this. Digital image manipulation programs such photoshop allow a person to easily and readily change aspects of the photograph and thus misrepresent the original information that was captured. The authenticity of the image is no longer reliable. Such things have caused our society to readily question the reliance of our sources. Have reproduction technologies caused us to become sceptics? We definately tend to question all the information that we recieve.

In today's society anyone can produce art. It is a form of mass communication that has allowed us to exchange information to a wide audience. The fact that our technology is having a growing impact upon the creation and manipulation of art and its 'aura' or 'meaning', was a concept realised by benjamin even back in 1936. It is still a relevant concept today, which seems to grow even more important with each advance in modern technology and the further impact it will have on the changing face of 'art'. They say a picture tells a thousand words, then in todays society do we need to question what is actually being said, and allow for the impact that replication may have had upon its original and intended message?