Walter Benjamin and Reproducible Art

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) was philosopher and cultural and literarycritic. In 1936, he wrote the essay titled "The Work of Art in the Age ofits Mechanical Reproduction". This essay has had a profound influenceon the approaches to art. His main concern was the change in thenature of the art in virtue of its technical reproducibility. Massreproducibility transformed both of the art reception and the impact ofartworks. The change in the impact of artworks on the audiences is dueto the substitution of the ritual function with exhibitional function.Benjamin believes that, which disappears in the age of mechanicalreproduction is the "aura" of the artwork. Mechanical reproduction inphotography and film has completed this process in which the auraslowly disappears. He maintains that, this new experience alters theconcept of art itself and recoils the function in favor of political andsocial behaviors; to say exactly, social function of art has changed fromritual to political one. He believed that, there is a hidden force inreproductive artwork in present age which can function againsttradition.