Sunday, February 20, 2011
The experience of an aura
The aura is a presence that holds authenticity and uniqueness. It is a feeling of immense awareness and excitement that is channeled through an object or event. Aura has a one of kind experience that is only felt when their is a first hand experience. Original and present aura is extremely valuable, that's why live entertainment is very popular. Unfortunately due to the Internet, there has been a “decay of the aura” [1] while creating a new aura through the cyber.
The aura that is transmitted through the cyber looses its authenticity and value. While events and art can be seen through the Internet, it is not the same as feeling the heart beating feeling of being at an actual concert. Due to the Internet it is easy to find events or images that in person would create amazing aura, but on the cyber that original aura is lost completely since it as reproduced so many times to the point of loosing its uniqueness. According to Walter Benjamin in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”[2] When art and events are reproduced time and time again on the cyber the originality and uniqueness is gone. It is not to say that aura can’t still be felt through the cyber... it can and most likely will, but that same aura is not as intense as the unique experience and presence that is felt at a once in a lifetime moment.
[1] [2] Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1961. Print.
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Yes, I agree with you that the internet has caused a decay of the aura because although the convenience of watching something from your home is a great thing, it has taken away from the aura of being there at the the actual event itself. The aura cannot be reproduced in its entirety. I enjoyed reading your post very much.
ReplyDeleteThank you, John. Exactly, watching things at home is great and convenient but it wont send the same chills down your back as if you are actually there.
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