Walter Benjamin
Atlas of Absence · Structural Void Documentation
This poem grapples with a question that has haunted me for years: what happens to art in the age of mechanical reproduction?
Walter Benjamin, in his seminal essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," argued that the aura of art - its unique presence in time and space - was being eroded by mass production. He saw this as a potentially liberating force, freeing art from the shackles of tradition and ritual.
But I'm still wrestling with it. Standing in galleries, I find myself drawn to both the originals and the prints, feeling the pull of history in each. Does the digital image, divorced entirely from the artist's hand, still hold a charge? Can we, as Benjamin suggests, find new ways to experience and create meaning in the face of mass production?
These are not academic questions for me. They are deeply personal, intertwined with my own understanding of creativity, authenticity, and the human experience. This poem, then, is an attempt to sit with the discomfort, to embrace the tension between the sacred and the reproduced. It is an open question, an invitation to continue the conversation.
Walter Benjamin Philosophenweg
Walter Benjamin, in his seminal essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," argued that the aura of art - its unique presence in time and space - was being eroded by mass production. He saw this as a potentially liberating force, freeing art from the shackles of tradition and ritual.
But I'm still wrestling with it. Standing in galleries, I find myself drawn to both the originals and the prints, feeling the pull of history in each. Does the digital image, divorced entirely from the artist's hand, still hold a charge? Can we, as Benjamin suggests, find new ways to experience and create meaning in the face of mass production?
These are not academic questions for me. They are deeply personal, intertwined with my own understanding of creativity, authenticity, and the human experience. This poem, then, is an attempt to sit with the discomfort, to embrace the tension between the sacred and the reproduced. It is an open question, an invitation to continue the conversation.
Walter Benjamin Philosophenweg