Page 36 - Critical Theories of Mass Media

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Walter Benjamin’s ‘Work of art’ essay 21
they left the auratic function of art largely unaffected since the
relative crudity of the copies confirmed the apparent distance
between profanely reproducible and sublimely singular art. The
artwork’s ritual function bequeaths its aura. Tradition animates the
work of art such that ‘to perceive the aura of an object we look at
means to invest it with the ability to look at us in return’ (Benjamin
1973: 187). But the age of mechanical reproduction announced by
the photograph, profoundly alters this ability of the artwork to
dominate its viewer. For the first time, art is liberated from its
‘parasitical relation’ to ritual and a radically new social atmosphere is
created by an unprecedented wealth of easily reproduced media
content. This release involves a major revaluation of art and its very
nature and function.

The cultural implications of mechanical reproduction
Benjamin’s Essay lends itself to a critical reading that cuts directly
across its own optimistic tone. It can be argued that Benjamin
seriously underestimated the negative implications of the way in
which the exhibition quality of art is fundamentally altered by the
rise of mechanical reproduction. The quantitative increase of artistic
reproductions creates an environment in which the whole act of
exhibition becomes irrevocably devalued, diluted – whichever critical
term one wishes to use. The roots of this process of devaluation can
be seen in Benjamin’s own description of the evolution of art from
highly symbolic religious and ritualistic sites to the more functional
art galleries that accompanied the early rise of capitalism. Formerly,
there was an intimate and inextricable link between an artefact and
its symbolic relationship to its particular location (an aspect of
Benjamin’s aura) such as a Bible and its placement upon a church
altar. Thus, in distinguishing between mediated signs and more
culturally grounded symbols, Baudrillard refers to the latter’s bonds
of unbreakable reciprocity with their social setting (Baudrillard 1983a: 85).
With the advent of mechanical reproduction, this intrinsic connec-
tion an artwork formerly held to a particular site of religious
veneration (the cave wall, the cathedral ceiling) is broken in favour
of its ability to circulate freely beyond a physical home.
The rise in importance of the quality of exhibition over and above
these previously unbreakable bonds of reciprocity threatens the symbolic,
ritualistic quality of artwork. The simple act of viewing becomes
more important than its much deeper original religious purpose. In
the early historical stages of this process, however, even this diluted
form of consuming an artwork still required some substantial effort
of consumption. For example, one does not need to be a devout
Catholic to view the Sistine Chapel but, even as merely an art

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