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Lived: 1892-1940
Walter Benjamin was a Marxist philosopher, social critic, essayist and novelist who, in the later years of his life, focused his efforts on understanding the changing values of art in the face of technology. In particular, he was interested in easily reproduced media such as photography and film.
Part of the question of authenticity has to do with whether or not a work of art is an "original". For Benjamin, a work of art can have only one original.
Benjamin's most influential theory was his definition of the "aura" of art. To account for the strong emotional reaction of audiences towards unique works of art, he suggested that the cause of the reaction was a property of the artwork itself, describing it objectively as a combination of:
-the work's existence in time and space
-physical alterations or degradation over time
-the authenticity of the work
Benjamin associated the aura with the "cult value" of art. He argued that, prior to the advent of photography, art was designated as such based only on its cult value – the near-religious awe and reverence experienced by the audience in the presence of an original work.
As opposed to cult value, the "exhibition value" of a work describes its utility as an object to be presented without an expected mystical reaction. Artwork that possesses only exhibition value can be taken from its original setting and placed with the viewer for examination.
An object with cult value is itself an original, with an aura derived from its originality.
Paintings are a good example of art with a strong aura and sense of originality. Viewers often are amazed to reflect on the fact that the object in front of them exhibits brush strokes from the hand of a famous artist, even more so when the painting is centuries old.
According to Benjamin, early photography was used in such a way that photographs possessed a strong aura in the same sense as a painting.
Similar to early photography, Benjamin saw stage productions as prototypes for film. The presence of actors and their interaction with the audience is key to the aura of theater.
Portraits of loved ones were the most common use, and these images were held dearly long after their death of the subject. These early photographs were rarely copied and retained their originality as well as cult value.
By contrast, Benjamin described film as a form of "surgery" where an editor creates an assemblage from various bits of an actor's performance to create the final product.
Benjamin believed that technology causes the destruction of the aura. Mechanical reproduction "detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence." This leads to the loss of originality and therefore of the aura.
Central to Benjamin's theory of reproduction is a distinction between the mechanical and non-mechanical. Benjamin argued that a painting copied by the hand of another artist is an original work with its own aura. This is due to the inevitable imperfections that arise from differences in technique and motivation.
As a Marxist, Benjamin was excited at the prospect of a break from tradition that the loss of the aura entailed. He identified cult value with the capitalistic, traditionalist society he opposed. He saw the decline of cult value and the resulting shift in favor of exhibition as a positive development.
It is true that the aura as defined by Benjamin seems to be lacking in the reproducible art of today. However, despite the ubiquitous use of technology to disseminate and view these forms of art, cult value seems to be alive and well.
The nature of film has changed enough to question Benjamin's conception of the medium as a rearranged copy of a stage performance. Films possess many attributes, such as depth of field and CGI, that would be impossible for actors to portray on a stage.
Since many new forms of media are designed to exist as a plurality of copies, a new definition of the "original" is needed to fully describe this new form of aura.
But has the aura really vanished from the world of art?
Though most photos are clearly for exhibition, one doesn't need to look far to find works with near-religious cult significance.
Moviegoers also bring their own perspective when seeing a film, a form of interaction in its own right. How often have you witnessed an audience member shouting advice to characters on the screen, or reacting strongly in anticipation of events in a horror film?
Perhaps authenticity and originality could best be conceived as referring not to a single physical object, but to a unique creation that can be viewed equally well through each copy like a world glimpsed through a series of windows.
Andrew Lindsay
Santa Barbara City College - Spring 2013