walter benjamin and digital media - for com 520
DESCRIPTION
In his article The work of art in the age of the mechanical reproduction 1973 [1936], Walter Benjamin argued that photos and cinema can be used as propaganda but at the same time help for social reforms. Though his argument is almost eighty years old, the current debate about the digital media seems to continue the tradition started long time ago.TRANSCRIPT
Walter Benjamin
The work of art in the age of the mechanical reproduction 1973 [1936]
How the digital media
reinforced Benjamin's argument
(1892 –1940)
( 1912) B.A. Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
(1913) Humboldt University of Berlin
(1915) M.A. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
(1917) He transferred to the University of Bern
(1919) Benjamin earned his cum laude PhD
The Concept of Criticism in German Romanticism
(1925) the Goethe University Frankfurt, rejected The Origin of German
Suicide in 25 September 1940 Portbou, Catalonia
Originally published at 1936
Re-published at 1973 by Hanna Arendt
Middle-Ages Magical Ritual
Renaissance Period
beauty of nature and
human beings
Modern Timessocial and
political role
Michelangelo, David 1501-1504
Scholz & Friends, 2007The German Olympic Sport Federation
King David playing the lyreMosaic from the floor of the ancient synagogue at GazaByzantine period6th century CE
Since the Renaissance, Art has AuraPilgrimagePower Relations
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa,1503–1506
However, since the industrial era…
Fritz Lang, Metropolis 1927
Lee Daniels, Precious (2009)
St. Mary Magdalene Simone Martini (1317)
High Art Low Culture
Fernando Boero, Mona Lisa 1978
Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q. 1919
Posted on BuzzFeed.com by anonymous, March 2011
Adolf Hitler The German Federal ArchiveBraunau Am Inn, 20 April 1937
Rendering Aesthetic
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother 1936 in Nipomo, California.
Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Politicization Art
Banksy, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair taking a picture
Shepard Fairey, Barak Obama “Hope” poster 2007
Mannie Garcia, AP photo, April 2006
Fair use lawsuit to be settled in 2011
Can a reproduced work of art contribute to a change? Eddie Adams, Pulitzer Winning Image from the Vietnam War on February 1, 1968
Guard Army Pvt. Lynndie England with naked prisoners, Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, Undated.
Can a reproduced work of art contribute to a change?
Is there a High Art and Low Culture?
Kasimir Malévitch, carré blanc sur fond blanc, 1918.
Charlie Chaplin, The Boy, 1921
Is there a high art and Low Culture?
Malcolm X (1992)Ernel Martinez - Malcolm X mural, Philadelphia
Do pictures have an “aura”?
As You Desire Me (1932)
Do pictures have “aura”?
Do pictures have “aura”?
Do pictures have “aura”? Is Photoshop a fascist aesthetic?
British prime minister David Cameron Photoshoped and unphotoshoped