Week 3 | Robotics + Art | Blog Assignment

 

In Walter Benjamin’s most notable essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,  he explains the term “aura” in relation to the “symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art”(Benjamin, 1936). Benjamin explains that the aura of an object in reproduction diminishes in the process of mechanization and industrialization. In a sense, Benjamin highlights the impact of industrialization and its implications on art and culture through the loss of originality due to the overproduction of an object. 

Here is a Youtube video that explains the concept of Aura in terms of Benjamin in more detail:

A more satirical take and film that I have seen that relates to the theme of industrialization is “Modern Times” directed by Charlie Chaplin. This film explains the dehumanizing effects of industrialization and modernity on society by exploring the struggles of factory workers and the working class in general during the Great Depression. Chaplin uses humor to explore the aspects of an industrial society and mechanization by focusing on aspects including assembly line production, mass consumerism, and the humiliation of workers. This film does a good job at highlighting the fast paced environment that has been brought forth in response to industrialization and the use of technology in industrial companies and assembly lines. 

Similarly, “The film Modern Times” emanates the ideas of Benjamin in which he explains that although industrialization has brought advancements to technology and production, productivity, and economic growth, it has simultaneously led to dehumanization and exploitation in the workforce and the erasure of traditional social structures and further the negative impact on the working class as a result of advanced technology and industrialization. 

Citations 

Benjamin, Walter. 1936. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”.

YouTube. (2021, January 18). Walter Benjamin and Aura: “the work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility” part 1. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=W1w3ot3JZno Charles Chaplin. (1936). Modern Times.

Vesna, Victoria (2024). Industrialization, Robotics, Kinetics/Robotic Art. UCLA DESMA 9: Art, Science, and Technology.