Walter Benjamin discusses the concept of an artwork’s aura, which “withers in the age of the technological reproducibility of the work of art is the latter’s aura.” Back then, before people could take pictures of famous artifacts and artworks, people had to travel and look at the artwork themselves. But through photographs, it can contain different feelings to when one would actually see the artwork in person. Take for example ‘Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh. People travel from all over the world to see this very painting with their own two eyes, they can feel emotional seeing the original artifact from the 1800s, on that very canvas, Van Gogh painted a Starry Night. Through digital photography, you can still have these feelings towards a picture of the original, but  nothing hits home then seeing the original in person, like back then. So this way it can lose it’s authenticity.

Walter Benjamin discusses idea of reproducibility of art in the age technological development. He affirms the art used to serve as a magical and a religious ritual but technological reproduction makes it possible to reproduce endless replicas that deforms works of arts and therefore culminating in the loss of its aura. Nevertheless, photography makes words of art available to the masses which can be considered as a form of emancipation. For Benjamin artist reproduction revolutionized art and artistic cult value at the expense of exhibition value. Mechanical reproduction makes works of art available not only to the elite but also to masses. Social media has played an important role in making works of art available to all and this supports Walter Benjamin ideas about art. The prevalence of applications that make the masses share works of arts and interact as well as have an idea about how others perceive those works of art. This accelerates interaction as well the way the works to can change our perception about things.

Walter Benjamin discusses idea reproducibility of art in the age technological development. He affirms the art used to serve as magical and a religious rituals but technological reproduction makes it possible to reproduce endless replicas that deforms works of arts and therefore culminating in the loss of its aura. Nevertheless, photography makes words  of art available to the masses which can be considered as a form of emancipation. For Benjamin artist reproduction revolutionized art and artistic cult value at the expense of exhibition value.  Mechanical reproduction makes works of art available not only to the elite but also to masses. Social media has played an important role in making works of art available to all and this supports that Walter Benjamin ideas about art. The prevalence of applications that make the masses share works of arts and interact as well as have an idea about how others perceive those works of art. This  accelerates interaction as well the way the works to can change our perception about things.

 

In Walter Benjamins essay, he has written how mechanical reproduction changed the role of art in society during the mid-1930s. The changes from the past are still present in todays environment. The media in our environment are examples of how not much has changed. Many things in the media we consume today are not authentic. Benjamin explains how it is different to photograph a painting and photograph an action. Photographing a painting is an act of reproduction. Our media today is very reproduced. We see the same trends in our media. Paintings are an example of what Benjamin is describing. Paintings are produced and shows value from the work itself. Photographs are not the same as it is just a reproduction of another piece of art.

The prevalence of social media platform demonstrate what Benjamin describes in the essay. Many social media platforms are used to share things like photos. Apps like Instagram are shown to be used for posting pictures. Many pictures are posted and reposted. This takes away the authenticity of the pictures. Benjamin describes how the technological reproducibility of artwork changes the relation of the masses to art. Social media platforms are an example of how art is technologically reproduced all the time. We see how things are reproduced online and it impacts our thoughts about how it affects us.

“It might be stated as a general formula that the technology of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the sphere of tradition.”

Apparently, the mechanical reproduction didn’t just detache art from its traditional sphere and authenticity but it also disconnect human mind from being creative and critical. The way in which human interpret and appreciate art is different from earlier, since the art now is  surrounding us with the spread of technology and various platforms we have access to. Art is not being appreciated and valued as it was before, because people nowadays care more about sharing stories of what they’re doing than taking  a moment to cherish the painting, architecture, sculpture, music, book or any other form of art.
At one moment, It would seem that people can not produce any new notions, ideas, or art, because everything is exploited. However, we still find people who come up with new disciplines everyday.
We can not decline the fact that camera, cinema, TV,  and social media have been of great help all these years and that they offer us a wonderful chance to enjoy arts from different backgrounds and cultures. Besides, it would be almost impossible to see the famous art of works like Leonardo da vinci’s famous paintings and William Shakespeare’s fabulous plays..

 

Walter Benjamin’s ” Work of Arts in the time of Mechanical Reproduction” is a seminal work  that remains timeless as it  brings to the forefront the topic of art and the questions underlying it. Benjamin first argues that reproduction deprives art from its “aura” and ,thus, prevents people from experiencing the feeling of “originality”. However, he goes on to state that reproduction can also serve art in the sense that it makes it available to the masses. Relevant enough, in our modern times, social media platforms, such as Instagram  and Facebook, expose people to various forms of art and allow  rising artists to expose their art widely and make it known to people. One might argue that people need no longer go to expensive museums in order to  enjoy their favorite work of art. Yet, originality remains a valuable commodity. The effect an original piece can have on us changes differently from one person to another. The value of a work of art depends on what Hume refers to as the “internal faculties”. Art is valuable only if it evokes a certain feeling in people. While someone can see a million things in a piece of art, another might not see  anything at all. The reproduction of art is a double edged weapon. While it can deprive a piece of art from its ” aura”, as Benjamin claims, it can also amplify it through mass dissemination that social media allow.

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Walter Benjamin in this timeless essay touches the very essence of art and not only defines what makes an art piece good, he gives a new meaning to its authenticity and gives a glimpse to what happens to art in the age of mass reproduction. Benjamin states that what makes art valuable is its authenticity, its existence in a certain space and time that gives it its value. Benjamin uses the term “Aura” to describe this to describe the physical and situational state of an art piece in a certain space and time. Aura is something that grants Authenticity and gives the art piece its inherent value. Aura is an ensemble of historical and situational background workings that give the art piece its “one-timeness”. Benjamin argues the mass reproduction of art diminishes and drains it from its aura from the art itself, it is not the same piece of art anymore, it has changed into something more. If we are to apply this reasoning to our current state of the art it would be easier for us to understand what Benjamin meant by his notion of Aura and Authenticity.

Art in itself has changed a lot from the time Benjamin posted his essay. Art was used to express spiritual and philosophical ideas of the time the artist was living in, but right now, it transcended this meaning and transformed into something more inclusive. Art now has become a political statement, not just an artistic expression. It has become a tool to bring people together, or tear them apart. The aura of an art piece diminishes with mass reproduction as Benjamin states, but he makes an effort to shed light on what replaces that aura, and to him that replacement is artistic exhibition. This exhibition gives way for the art to be enjoyed by a larger number of people across the entire world. Modern art has transcended the traditional definitions of art, and gives way to new forms of art distribution. The Mona Lisa’s face is now up plastered all over the word with new expressions, emojis are the new hieroglyphs and Banksy’s murals replaced Da Vinci’s murals in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan

Walter Benjamin in this timeless essay touches the very essence of art and not only defines what makes an art piece good, he gives a new meaning to its authenticity and gives a glimpse to what happens to art in the age of mass reproduction. Benjamin states that what makes art valuable is its authenticity, its existence in a certain space and time that gives it its value. Benjamin uses the term “Aura” to describe this to describe the physical and situational state of an art piece in a certain space and time. Aura is something that grants Authenticity and gives the art piece its inherent value. Aura is an ensemble of historical and situational background workings that give the art piece its “one-timeness”. Benjamin argues the mass reproduction of art diminishes and drains it from its aura from the art itself, it is not the same piece of art anymore, it has changed into something more. If we are to apply this reasoning to our current state of the art it would be easier for us to understand what Benjamin meant by his notion of Aura and Authenticity.
Art in itself has changed a lot from the time Benjamin posted his essay. Art was used to express spiritual and philosophical ideas of the time the artist was living in, but right now, it transcended this meaning and transformed into something more inclusive. Art now has become a political statement, not just an artistic expression. It has become a tool to bring people together, or tear them apart. The aura of an art piece diminishes with mass reproduction as Benjamin states, but he makes an effort to shed light on what replaces that aura, and to him that replacement is artistic exhibition. This exhibition gives way for the art to be enjoyed by a larger number of people across the entire world. Modern art has transcended the traditional definitions of art, and gives way to new forms of art distribution. The Mona Lisa’s face is now up plastered all over the word with new expressions, emojis are the new hieroglyphs and Banksy’s murals replaced Da Vinci’s murals in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan

According to Benjamin, Art lost its purity during the age of production. People started creating art just like a product that should be produced, which led art to lose its Aura. The experience of staring at an original work of art in a gallery is totally different than scrolling images on Instagram for example. This is the difference Benjamin is trying to capture:  that the original artwork was more valuable to society than the photographic reproduction of that artwork

However, Original artwork should be seen everywhere. Reproducing works of art allows culture to spread to a broader audience, giving people easier access to knowledge and beauty. Today, images are spread and shared over the globe through social media.

The original artwork would not lose its importance because it has the Aura, which ensures its uniqueness. It creates a time and space collocation, that would define it as unique. Instead, the value of the artwork changes in time due to the change in cultural events and the ever-changing popular taste. For instance, Van Gogh’s works were never recognized or famous in his time, but today there are among the world’s most expensive paintings. Fortunately, we still have an image of them thanks to photography.

The aura may not have completely lost its meaning, but we cannot deny that beauty and culture occur in our everyday lives in a completely new way.

Today, we have continuous access to art through social media. For example, Instagram can be considered as a virtual and infinite museum, where art is shared and readily available.

The essay  “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is one of Benjamin’s most influential works, not only at the time when it was published but its impact can be sensed in our contemporary world as well. It opens up new avenues for thinking critically about how we perceive art. It draws on many art forms namely, paintings, films, and theatre. In his article, Benjamin sheds light on a very significant term that became associated with this specific article. This term is what Benjamin names the “aura”. He defines the “aura” as a ‘strange weave of time and place’. In other terms, the aura is the uniqueness of an object produced in a certain time and space. It is what gives a piece of art that sense of authenticity.

Benjamin argues that photography and films allowed for the mechanical reproducibility of the work of art leading it to lose its aura. He also believes that mechanical reproduction liberates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on rituals. Benjamin’s account for the impact of reproducibility is twofold. He states that this reproduction democratizes the notion of art and makes it accessible to all social spheres. On another hand, he turns his attention to the way in which art can be transformed into a revolutionary tool for the proletariat. Indeed, this essay can be functional and read in the light of our modern world. With the rise of modern technology and the flux of social media platforms, the arguments that Benjamin discussed in the mid-1930s can be brought to light again. Social media platforms are openly accessible to everyone and everyone can have a voice there and can express themselves. All works of art have been available just with a finger click. There is a clear threat with what benjamin discussed and the modern world.