The Art Itself - Representation

3 important questions on The Art Itself - Representation

Can you explain the theory of Walter Benjamin, member of the Frankfurt School, about the "aura" of original art?

  • Way of distinguishing orignal works from mechanical reproductions (photography).
  • Original works have an "aura;" the unique quality of the work and the awe it inspires when we look at it up close.
  • Aura related to 3 concepts:
    • Physical location (museum/church).
    • Materiality (how it ages over time).
    • Provenance (ownership history).
  • Photographs or films, mechanical reproductions, do not have an aura because it is lacking at least one element.
    • Its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.

Newer sociologists appose Walter Benjamin's ideas about aura and claim that aura's can migrate. Can you elaborate?

  • As times and techniques change, so does aura.
    • Film can be an aura now as well (director's cut).
  • Copies can make the original even more valuable.

Can you explain how Bourdieu's ideas about the field connects to the different types of aesthetics?

  • Each field has its own ideologies and by that also a different way of looking/appreciating art.
  • Two types of aesthetic:
    • Pure aesthetic: l'art pour l'art --> appreciates art by its form.
      • Not interested in the degree of realism, the traditions/institutions that ordered it nor what message they wanted to send.
    • Popular aesthetic: appreciates arts for the emotions it evokes, favours realism, relatability, entertainment.

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