Benjamin, Walter. 1936. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm
Key phrase:
The desire of contemporary masses to bring things “closer” spiritually and humanly, which is just as ardent as their bent toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by accepting its reproduction. (Paragraph 2)
Authenticity - Paragraph 2
- "The presence of the original"
- Technical: "process reproduction is more independent of the original than manual reproduction"
- Reproducibility: "Technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself"
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Aura - Paragraph 4
- Aura of the work of art
- "The technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition"
- Most powerful agent is film
Henning, Michelle. 2006. “Chapter 3: Media,” in Museums, Media and Cultural Theory. Open University Press, pp. 70-98.
http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/lib/oculyork/detail.action?docID=10409199
Media's effect on the aura (page 71)
"Modern media are characterized by their ability to detach objects, scenes and people, from their fixed place in time and space, and to allow them – or their forensic traces – to circulate as multiples and reproductions. Museums traditionally prioritize objects, and tend toward permanence, toward the monumental and the unique rather than ephemeral reproductions."
"The medium is the message" - Marshall McLuhan (page 72)
- Material bias
- "The significance of any new medium was not the uses to which it was put or the content but the ‘change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs’"
- 'Content' of medium
