Walter Benjamin

                                           

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. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. This includes the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes in its ownership. The traces of the first can be revealed only by chemical or physical analyses which it is impossible to perform on a reproduction; changes of ownership are subject to a tradition which must be traced from the situation of the original."

   Walter Benjamin describes art that has "presence in time and space" as cult value. This implicates that artworks have an added "value" because it represents a specific moment in time and is an indentation within history. The work itself has an "aura" which produces a ripple effect that cannot be constrained. Nevertheless, with the advancement of technology, this aura is opaqued by mechanical reproductions that reduce the "authenticity" of the work and diminish the aura. The art then falls into the realm of exhibition value. It is in within this realm that art begins to lose its historical context and "detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition." Furthermore, "by making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence. And in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own particular situation, it reactivates the object reproduced. These two processes lead to a tremendous shattering of tradition which is the obverse of the contemporary crisis and renewal of mankind."  In other words, I think that by making mechanical reproductions and making it available to anyone, the art is liberated and constrained only to the individual experience.