RE: 'Benjamin used the word "aura" to refer to the sense of awe and reverence one presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. According to Benjamin, this aura inheres not in the object itself but rather in external attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. Aura is thus indicative of art's traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or secular) ritual.'
(1) I like 'presumably' experienced... (2) In 'primitive', and 'feudal' times there were no 'works of art'. Slight glitch in Benjamin's historical analysis there. (3) Why should any of this have anything to do with 'structures of power' ? As I recall, there is nothing in Benjamin to demonstrate this. (But what the heck, it sounds classy. And there are nice Marxist resonances - without actually having to invoke Marx...) (4) Re:"such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. " This is so hopelessly shaky historically speaking. For vast stretches of history and for large numbers of objects we now regard as art, the question of 'line of ownership' was entirely irrelevant. Ditto the notion of 'exhibition.' The statues at Chartres were not on 'exhibition', or Buddhist sculpture or so much else. That is Western post-Renaissance thinking. Authenticity?? The very notion would not have made sense. Ditto a million times over for 'cultural value'. Benjamin's' outlook is so obviously limited by the conventional leftist thinking of his times... There is more to say but I'll leave it at that. DA On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 8:52 PM, Saul Ostrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Benjamin used the word "aura" to refer to the sense of awe and reverence one > presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. According to > Benjamin, this aura inheres not in the object itself but rather in external > attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, > its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. Aura is thus indicative > of art's traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois > structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or > secular) ritual. With the advent of art's mechanical reproducibility, and > the development of forms such as film in which there is no actual original, > the experience is freed from place and ritual. "For the first time in world > history," Benjamin wrote, "mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of > art from its parasitical dependence on ritual." > > > -- Derek Allan http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/derek.allan/default.htm
