Nice Aura, man!

Walter Benjamin. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". Probably best if read out loud (okay, I love Benjamin and especially reading his work out loud!)
Before launching into any preliminary discussion of his work, check this link out. I think it'll be instructive as you try to decipher the essay.
I'll begin with some preliminary quotes from Richard Kazis, in an evaluative essay on Benjamin's work
"“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” has become a standard reference for any attempts to analyze and understand the interrelation of political, technological and artistic development under capitalism. His insights are especially useful for the political analysis of film."

"Benjamin felt that the task of the proletariat and the task of the revolutionary intellectual were “to make the continuum of history explode.” The intellectual—the historical materialist—should reveal the significance of the present historical instant, should analyze the explosive convergence of past and future in the presence of the now, so that it can be transformed."

Another great link to get us going from a professor at UPenn

Rather than asking some questions, I would like to propose the two keywords for us to discuss
- aura
- authenticity

Listen to the Laurie Anderson song "The Dream Before". Now, watch the performance of the song by performance artist Meow Meow
Take a look at the lyrics below to help you:

Laurie Anderson The Dream Before (for Walter Benjamin) lyrics

Hansel and Gretel are alive and well
And they're living in Berlin
She is a cocktail waitress
He had a part in a Fassbinder film
And they sit around at night now drinking schnapps and gin
And she says: Hansel, you're really bringing me down
And he says: Gretel, you can really be a bitch
He says: I've wasted my life on our stupid legend
When my one and only love was the wicked witch.
She said: What is history?
And he said: History is an angel being blown backwards into the future
He said: History is a pile of debris
And the angel wants to go back and fix things
To repair the things that have been broken But there is a storm blowing from
Paradise
And the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future
And this storm, this storm is called Progress

Laurie Anderson The Dream Before (for Walter Benjamin) lyrics


I would like you to, if you have time, to think about an image and to discuss its significance vis-à-vis Benjamin's essay.

How would you characterize art today?

How might Benjamin's critique be relevant in the study of hypermedia/internet?

Come in with one of your own questions