2. What is an Aura? When people talk about art,
‟Aura‟ is often used to describe impression
from a work of art. According to Walter
Benjamin, human have had the desire to
possess for image since the beginnings of
things. He also expressed aura as follows:
We define the aura of the latter as the unique
phenomenon of a distance, however close it
may be. If, while resting on a summer
afternoon, you follow with your eyes a mountain
range on the horizon or a branch which casts
its shadow over you, you experience the aura
of those mountains, of that branch. This image
makes it easy to comprehend the social bases
of the contemporary decay of the aura.
+
Aura that he tried to express in this part is not
only perfection communion between the
subject and object but also unique existence of
the work.
3. +
In etymological, Aura means the Holy Spirit, religious nimbus and halo.
Also aura can be defined following some philosophical view, first of all,
in objective idealism, aura has unexplained immaterial meaning such
as halo, nimbus energy similar to origin of a word. For example, a
person sense mysterious and miracle energy at altar, this phenomenon
is surreal experience. This story appeared in religion and noble art well
because the ruling class wanted to make holy themselves.
4. +
The meaning of Aura is more logical and clear in materialism.
Giving cloudy effect or mezzotint to picture is directly
connected to the appearance of aura. The photo artists of 19th
preferred it for giving unrealistic mood to pictures. These fogs
of pictures are also aura in materialism.
5. Then, what is aura comprised of?
In “The work of art in the age of
mechanical reproduction”,
Benjamin is searching for component
of aura at one-off existence.
He mentioned about „loss of aura‟, that
is new arts in age of mechanical
reproduction such as picture and
movies that lack “unique existence”
that only original can have.
+
Human have started thinking about reproduction
basically because of longing for nature and art
works. He also mentioned that aura of art works
is destroyed by mechanical reproduction.
6. Technologies have brought benefits
+ of culture to the public. The culture
is always with human, and human is
living through communication
between people in culture.
Media with advanced technologies
makes quick information delivery
and sharing information possible.
From television, computer and
email through Internet to smart
phone, the development of media is
progressing at a rapid pace.
The appearance of art through
media combined with new
technologies has made the term
„New media art‟.
7. According to him, the development of
printing and photography technique have
brought the reproduction of works of arts
and Internet degraded existing artistry to
a concept of information by establishing a
worldwide communication network.
Photography neutralized „material
existence‟ by imagification, „unique
characteristic‟ by reproduction and
„ownership impossibility‟ by
omnipresence.
+
8. +
An analysis of art in the age of
mechanical reproduction must
do justice to these relationships,
for they lead us to an all-
important insight: for the first
time in world history, mechanical
reproduction emancipates the
work of art from its parasitical
dependence on ritual.(Benjamin
Walter,1992)
9. +
When camera invented in 1839, Paul
Delaroche who was France printer
declared, “From today painting is
dead”. Since then, the appearance
of new necessarily has been
heralded necessarily decline of
traditional expression media.
10. However, I think the development of
technology have brought new expression
media not a death of traditional expression
media. Digital technology changed „basic way
of looking‟ and now changed „way of
experience‟. A new paradigm „Digital‟ provide
important ideology to the development of
technology.
Digital world have already been important our
+lives and culture and technologies in digital
age have brought the loss of aura in arts as
Benjamin said. In this context, is “Aura in
digital age” an oxymoron?
