Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Upon reading Walter Benjamins peice I became very confused at first and found it challenging to comprehend a lot of what i was reading. I found it very interesting that coins, terra cottas, and bronzes were the only pieces in ancient Greece that were able to be manufactured through process of founding and stamping. The article gives us a timeline perspective about the advancements in art that humanity has made. I believe this relates to current perspective of art and technology because art and the means used to create it will always be constantly advancing and improving! A lot of art does not become noticed until later on down the road. For example, Prehistoric art was not meant necessarily to be be represented as art but as offerings to spirits. To guide them and show what their world was like. Nowadays with the instant satisfaction sickness we can create a piece of art and have it accessed by millions just by simply uploading the work on the world wide web! Art served many different functions in the beginning of times and also in the future. When the article begins to talk about the surgeon and the painter aspect of filming, is when this article kind of somewhat started to make a little more sense to me. "Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art." The perspective of the camera is unique to the person filming it, not the viewer themselves. The viewers are just along for the ride into the fixed perspective of camera man A. They view exactly what is chosen by the Filmer, nothing more/nothing less. "The public is an examiner, an absent minded one." This article relates to current trends in art and technology because it provides an excellent analysis on perspective and the process of creating and spreading art.