After reading Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; the definition of aura, as proposed by Benjamin, at first provided a description of how aura was (emphasis mine) described, and it is this description that has been forced to change during modern times. In order to first understand aura, you must first understand what Benjamin believes was lost in the reproduction of art. Only then can one really understand what aura is.
“In principle a work of art has always been reproducible…”[1] yet “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: it’s presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it’s meant to be.”[2] This is what Benjamin believes is changed or lost when art is mechanically reproduced. “The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being, embedded in the fabric of tradition.”[3] Therefore the art may be reproduced faithfully and accurately but Benjamin stresses that the “aura” of the work is inherently lost in the reproduction. This is how Benjamin describes aura.
Theodor Adorno injects into the discussion the role of culture and industry, with regards to why art is being reproduced mechanically with greater frequency.[4] “Culture today is infecting everything with sameness”.[5] It was this view that lead Adorno to simultaneously describe and dislike the media industry culture, and the need of this industry to reproduce art for mass consumption.[6] Adorno believed this media culture industry was further degrading art and any aura it may have once had. He argued that it was basically only being reproduced for the sake mass consumption.[7]
That was then, this is the now. This is a new age, where art can be viewed, reproduced, and even created in cyberspace, yet it inherently cannot lack an aura as Benjamin may have argued. Cyber space has created new ways in which images, sound, interaction and even communication can be transmitted digitally. The digital realm has even created new rituals of how art is intended to be viewed, often times these new rituals occur solely in the domain of cyberspace. If art can now be solely created and displayed in cyber space, then the aura must be transmitted through cyberspace, lest we assume the art never had an aura, and that is an impossibility. The time and space that Benjamin would argue is inherently lacking, is not only present in the new online art, but in this day and age it can be viewed, paused, resumed, replayed and even watched anew time after time. The fabric of space and time is embedded into the art digitally, and therefore the aura must be transmitted digitally from the author to the audience. Though the aura may change for each viewer or audience, and the aura of the art may be ever changing, nonetheless, an aura is transmitted each and every time, to each and every unique viewer.
However useful both of these texts may have once been, the reproduction and creation of art has moved from the traditional rituals of Benjamin and Adorno’s era, and has since leapt into the new rituals of the digital realm, known as the cyberspace of today. This new medium, and these new rituals now challenge the very foundations of Benjamin’s argument that aura is lost when reproduced mechanically. Adorno’s statements of the media industry culture are still very relevant, but must be reexamined under a new understanding that aura can indeed be transmitted through reproduction, whether it was for the purpose of a media culture intent of distributing mass consumption, or solely the intent of creating art for artistic purposes.
[1] Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken Books, 1968) Pg.218
[2] Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken Books, 1968) Pg.220
[3] Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken Books, 1968) Pg.223
[4] Adorno, Theodor. Dialect of Enlightenment: The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception". California: Stanford University Press.
[5] Adorno, Theodor. Dialect of Enlightenment: The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception". California: Stanford University Press. p. 95
[6] Adorno, Theodor. Dialect of Enlightenment: The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception". California: Stanford University Press.
[7] Adorno, Theodor. Dialect of Enlightenment: The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception". California: Stanford University Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment