“Around
1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it
to reproduce all
transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their
impact upon the public; it also had captured a place of its own among the
artistic processes,” Walter Benjamin argued about the mechanical reproduction
of artworks. His proclamation exclaimed his belief that originality was being destroyed
by replication. I agree with this statement ― originality is defined by little
quirks that make an artwork unique and mass reproduction simply eliminates the
uniqueness.
For example, no one really recalls each and every storm trooper in
Star Wars. Each robot looks identically and the beauty disappears. However,
R2D2 is a character we remember because it looks quite different.
 |
| R2D2 |
 |
| Army of Storm Troopers |
Society responds to industrialization by no longer recognizing the
difference in the production but how it is produced and implemented into
everyday society. “The fictions of ‘master’ and ‘copy’ are now so entwined with
each other that it is impossible to say where one begins and where one ends.”
Douglas Davis stated. Therefore, the only concrete distinction we can make is
communicative network and discovery.
 |
| This unique interactive homepage draws attention to his different exhibits. |
With this in mind, this is how artists like Ken Rinaldo capture an
audience’s attention. His website (kenrinaldo.com) uses an extremely creative design
for his homepage. The branches are quite atypical of a regular website and
draws attention to his other artworks.
Citations
1. Walter
Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936)
2.
Douglas Davis “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction” (1991-1995)
3.
Storm Trooper Image
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Stormtrooper_Corps
4. R2D2
Image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R2-D2
5. Ken
Rinaldo
http://kenrinaldo.com/
I completely agree with your point about replication devaluing art as individuality is more valuable, however, stormtroopers are humans in armor not robots. It is true though that the uniqueness in character's, sculptures, paintings, and even robots makes them more memorable and valuable.
ReplyDeleteYou are completely right that the replication of art devalues it (hence why pop art was such an appropriate commentary on society in the 60s.) What's interesting to think about is "collector's pieces." It's no longer possible to own a "one of a kind" piece of art, but companies are always putting out 20 or 50 of an item because it is still considered fairly rare. Even more so, defected toys, pieces of currency, etc. are often useless and yet worth a lot of money due to their uniqueness. Random mistakes CAN be made my automated processes. But I still feel that they aren't as important as human creativity.
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