____________________________________
On Sat, 5 Jul 1997, Troy Bennet wrote:
> Jaxun brings up a rather important issue concerning
> digital art and originality. This issue has been
> fairly beaten to death in the realm of photography and film.
> I highly recommend that anyone working in a medium of
> mass reproducibility be aware of the issues concerning
> authorship, originality, and reproducibility.
>
> John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" does a good job of addressing
> many of the concepts related to mass media. Berger's ideas are
> inspired by the philosopher Walter Benjamin and semioticians
> such as Roland Barthe.
>
> Benjamin's seminal paper, "The Work of Art in the Age of
> Mechanical Reproduction" written sometime in the late 30's
> disusses how photography, offset printing, and film (cinema)
> affect the notion of authorship in light of mass reproducibility.
>
> Our current digital era really brings home many of Benjamin's
> ideas, especially because of how indistinguishable copies of
> "Originals" are.
>
> Do a net search on Walter Benjamin. I found the entire paper
> online a while ago. I couls also be persuaded to email it out
> to interested parties. Apropo eh?
>
> Once anyone reads this, I'd be interested in discussing the whole
> realm of capitalism, "aura" and authorship.
>
> beefy stuff.
>
>
> peace,
>
>
> troyb
>
coffin@art.net
---===<<<<<<<((((((([[[[[[[*]]]]]]])))))))>>>>>>>===---
art.net/~coffin