I was writing this paper for my photography class... Now that I read it again, I am being ironical by blogging this, as how I vent out (read below) we need "aura" back..
I would agree with Walter Benjamin on some points wholeheartedly – were I living in the early 20th century. The introduction of camera changed the landscape and instigated interesting conversation regarding what would be “art”. It became easier to make copies of “art” works, hence eliminating the “aura” which is defined as “the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be”. This has brought down the distance between public audience and the work of art. Art works are less viewed as “holy”, as objects of veneration. It is now more approachable to the people. On this regard, Benjamin perceived it as positive. I also believe that it was an imperative historical progress that made positive impact on the development of the art as well as humanity. However, in the world where I am living now, the situation is reversed. Technology advance makes it so much easier to copy and paste art works – through social media such as Facebook and Instagram. They have made the process of creating and sharing of arts much easier and convenient. This has led to the abundance of “creation” on the Internet. There are so many easy ways to “publish” your work. This is definitely a positive thing as it invites new artists to have a chance to get their works discovered. However, sometimes, the amounts of creation are inundating the world wide web, making it very difficult to tell which would befall under just a plain “image” or a piece of “art work”. Would you say a blog that is followed by the most people would be a better work of art then a work that receives no attention from the popular culture? In order to get noticed, do you have to employ smart social media technology? At least in the back in the old days, you would not feel the pressure to be “liked” by the general public. And we have to be reminded that the greatest work of arts was not always well received by the then-public. So for me, the inundated data makes me crave for the old-fashioned, curated work of arts in physical settings of galleries or museums. The pure act of walking to the museum with full intention of viewing art works becomes part of the “art experience”. It is true that I can see better Mona Lisa through my computer window, in the privacy of my room. However, it was the whole “experience”, the opportunity to be solely immersed in the art, facing the painting, that gave me the satisfaction.
