Midterm: Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin

“The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology has no been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society.”

Art and the public perception/reception of it have certainly undergone great evolutions, in particular with the advent of mechanical reproduction, i.e. lithography, printing press, photography, and film. In this piece, Benjamin attempts to get at the politics of art. Today, we can easily mass produce works of art, making it available to the masses while eliminating the original “uniqueness” and temporality—the “aura.” Benjamin claims that photography and, more importantly, film are completely devoid of this aura. Nevertheless, they reiterate our evolution of human sense perception, which is “determined not only by nature but by historical circumstances as well.”(37)

The cause for the demand of reproduction and the “decay of the aura” (38) is due to the need for the contemporary masses to bring things closer to them, both physically and emotionally. In eliminating distance, we paradoxically lose the aura—the link to the work’s original meaning. The aura is embedded in the “ritual function... [or] the location of its original use value.”(38) In the age of mechanical reproduction, however, art is entirely cut loose from its “parasitical dependence on ritual.” (39) This is where politics steps in as the basis of the purpose/use of art. The “decay of the aura” is very much embedded in historical development which allowed for the democratizing of art reception.

Since many major contemporary art forms are so much less based in ritual practices, thus losing “cult value,” the “exhibition value” of the art increases with mechanical reproduction. Photography and film are the strongest examples of this “new function” (39) of art. This “new function” lies in how the audience is able to perceive/receive the work of art. Firstly, both forms involve looking at “the real,” yet strive to emphasize a different way of seeing it. What you sense in photography and film is entirely dependent on the person directing the camera. You see what they want you to see; how one receives the art are “most instructive.” (48) They purposefully evoke a feeling/emotion with every camera angle, every new scene. Where a painting invites contemplation, the film induces absorption of the art. (48)

In the epilogue, Benjamin ties in his analysis of modern art reproduction with contemporary politics. He has shown that the relationship between art and audience has become based in politics rather than ritual. He argues that while Communism may benefit from the politicizing of art, Fascism may allow for a more destructive role of aesthetics. The simple formula here seems to be that art plus technology equals war. Fascism has the potential to use art as a form of social control. War, it is argued, can mobilize the masses better than any other art form can. The age of mechanical reproduction has certainly been an apocalyptic change for art and, furthermore, politics. Benjamin cites Marinetti who claims that war is art, thanks to technology.