Critical positions in the media and popular culture.

Notes....

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Benjamin TASK AND SEMINAR

NOTES

Task 2

Before this lecture i had never heard of Milton Glaser but without realising i was fully aware of his work, the 'I Love New York' Text Design, this infamous piece of design is one of the most famous pieces of text and is recognised by the public world wide. 

It has become New York's trademark promotion logo and is used for the the citys souvenirs and brochures throughout the state. Glasers design is ripped of, sold and distributed to small shops , markets, retail stores, designer brands and printed onto a wide range products in not only America but all over the world. "Mechanical reproduction simply means copies, copies that extend beyond the aural setting or ritual within which the art/image was originally displayed"

Since designing the logo in the mid 1970's, Milton Glaser has been helping many businesses re-value and improve the three magic letters of their company , USP (unique selling point), although this is benefiting the retail industry  from small boutiques and shops to luxury brands , it is De-valuing the logo which had in tern lost its uniqueness itself. 

In Walter Benjamins essay 'The work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reporiduction' , Benjamin talks about the universal equality of things and how mechanical reproduction destroys aura , in this case the 'I Love New York' trademark. However this is not a necessarily a bad thing , i found a video of Glasers opinion of the reproduction of his logo and how it has been overly re-used until this day .“I did the bloody thing in 1975 and I thought it would last a couple of months as a promotion and disappear.” Glaser talks about how shocked he was that his simple icon design became so widely recognised and appreciated, he also expresses how it is a 'great thing' to have happened and how he doesn't have a problem with the mechanical reproduction of his design. Glaser also states that he does not know why it has become so used , but of course its the brilliance of its minimalistic style and how well it has been considered in terms of communicating a message in its simplest form using type , American Typewriter. 

The plump red heart and the American inspired black type sit so well together even though they contrasts , which is very rare in terms of design. In my opinion the reason why it is used so much 'mostly for selling products that promote the city' is because its communicating such a warm and positive energy about New York , using a rebus 'the heart' to portray the feeling of love, which in turn encourages people to experience the city themselves and buy 'I Love New York' merchandise during their trip. 

In my opinion , the iconic design has been used too often and has lost its unique appeal, the icon is most famous for being printed onto unisex white t-shirts , and it was always a tourists desire to purchase one during their visit to New York , however the t-shirt can now be purchased in many countries , including England where i purchased mine from. This is just one example of how re-production of art and designs can DE value it dramatically “the authenticity... is jeopardized by reproduction”.

CTS LECTURE - TECHNOLOGY        -       REPRODUCTION       -       VALUE 

                                   photography

                                   new techniques

W.BENJAMIN - The work of art in the ago of mechanical reproduction , 1936.

In pairs of two , analyse and explain a section in the peice of writing that has been given, SECTION 5 AND 6. 

V

Works of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out; with one, the accent

is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work. Artistic production begins with

ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult. One may assume that what mattered was their existence,

not their being on view. The elk portrayed by the man of the Stone Age on the walls of his cave was

an instrument of magic. He did expose it to his fellow men, but in the main it was meant for the spirits.

Today the cult value would seem to demand that the work of art remain hidden. Certain statues of gods are

accessible only to the priest in the cella; certain Madonnas remain covered nearly all year round; certain

sculptures on medieval cathedrals are invisible to the spectator on ground level. With the emancipation of

the various art practices from ritual go increasing opportunities for the exhibition of their products. It is

easier to exhibit a portrait bust that can be sent here and there than to exhibit the statue of a divinity that

has its fixed place in the interior of a temple. The same holds for the painting as against the mosaic or

fresco that preceded it. And even though the public presentability of a mass originally may have been just

as great as that of a symphony, the latter originated at the moment when its public presentability promised

to surpass that of the mass.

With the different methods of technical reproduction of a work of art, its fitness for exhibition increased to

such an extent that the quantitative shift between its two poles turned into a qualitative transformation of

Walter Benjamin  The Work of Art in the Age. . .its nature. This is comparable to the situation of the work of art in prehistoric times when, by the absolute

emphasis on its cult value, it was, first and foremost, an instrument of magic. Only later did it come to be

recognized as a work of art. In the same way today, by the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value the

work of art becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the

artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental. This much is certain: today photography and the

film are the most serviceable exemplifications of this new function.

VI

In photography, exhibition value begins to displace cult value all along the line. But cult value does not give

way without resistance. It retires into an ultimate retrenchment: the human countenance. It is no accident

that the portrait was the focal point of early photography. The cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent

or dead, offers a last refuse for the cult value of the picture. For the last time the aura emanates from the

early photographs in the fleeting expression of a human face. This is what constitutes their melancholy,

incomparable beauty. But as man withdraws from the photographic image, the exhibition value for the

first time shows its superiority to the ritual value. To have pinpointed this new stage constitutes the

incomparable significance of Atget

13

, who, around 1900, took photographs of deserted Paris streets. It

has quite justly been said of him that he photographed them like scenes of crime. The scene of a crime,

too, is deserted; it is photographed for the purpose of establishing evidence. With Atget, photographs

become standard evidence for historical occurrences, and acquire a hidden political significance. They

demand a specific kind of approach; free-floating contemplation is not appropriate to them. They stir the

viewer; he feels challenged by them in a new way. At the same time picture magazines begin to put up

signposts for him, right ones or wrong ones, no matter. For the first time, captions have become obligatory.

And it is clear that they have an altogether different character than the title of a painting. The directives

which the captions give to those looking at pictures in illustrated magazines soon become even more

explicit and more imperative in the film where the meaning of each single picture appears to be prescribed

by the sequence of all preceding one

V – The Magic of Art: Cult and Exhibition Value
One of art’s functions is its value: its “cult value” and its “exhibition value.”
•    Cult:  Originally, art was meant to be magical and hidden from the outside world, a “magical” projection of early man’s inner aspirations.
•    Exhibition: Modern “emancipation” of art has increased the chances for it to be on public display as means for profit and economy.
The shift between original “cult value” and modern “exhibition value” has thus transformed the overall quality of the art produced.

VI – The Portrait and Photograph
Exhibition value outweighs cult value only in early portraits.
•    Portraits from centuries ago maintain a “melancholy” aura about them.
•    Photographs do help with understanding historical events but don’t require the “free-floating contemplation” that a painting might invoke.