Blog #1 (Due: 8-31-10)
Twentieth century philosopher Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” written in 1936 was a classic composition which has influenced cultural perspectives about art and new technologies. His ideas were definitely radical but so were the changes in the art world, film and photography, were the new hot item in the art world at that time. His heady and kind of over the top intellectualism was somewhat opinionated but interesting. His concept of the “aura” was particularly intriguing, or the loss of “aura.” By that he meant that a painter’s work was authentic, it was original and not reproduced, while a photograph, which was a new medium at the time, was a reproduced image. The cameraman guided us to a desired conclusion, whereas the painter told an unapologetic real picture of the truth. He had strong convictions that film and screen would dictate conformed ideas and beliefs, “the painting invites the spectator to contemplation; before the movie frame the spectator cannot do so. No sooner has his eye grasped a scene than it is already changed.”
I respectively disagree with his main concept that painting and film are different. Like Magritte the famous French painter of L’eu n’est pas une Pipe.” He painted an image of a pipe, not a real pipe. So it seems that a painting and film or photography are both what we see but really only an “ image” of what one sees.
As We May Think was a long article about technological developments/advancements in the year 1945. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the process of dry photography when we now have digital cameras and equipment that was futuristic in Bush’s world. It’s amazing though to think that he wrote the article sixty-five years ago, and so much of what he wrote has come to fruition. If I had to “decode any crystal ball thinking” in his essay, I would have to say that Bush was a visionary. He gave an extremely imaginative description of an “automative information system” that eventually came true. He referred to this system as “memex.” “Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.” He even described a desk, which sounds suspiciously like a workstation, including a keyboard and buttons. Bush was very interested in sharing information, so I think that is where the World Wide Web and his other ideas comes into play. It sounded to me like he was ready for his “desk” to be interactive, which is what the www is all about. “This is the essential feature of the “memex”, the process of tying two items together is the important thing.” I rarely sit down at my computer and look at one site. I combine many sites in order to garner more information. I believe this is how Bush directly influenced the development of the Internet.
