Reproduction of Artworks in the Lippmannian-Frankfurtian Debates During Advanced Technology Era

The development of technology leads to mechanical reproduction of artworks. This tendency brings the paradox whether mechanical reproduction of artworks enlightens or blinds society. Optimistic perspective of Walter Benjamin and Lippmannian school on reproducibility faces pessimistic view of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to compare W. Lippmann, W. Benjamin, T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer’s views and summarize by checking suitability of two schools’ perspectives in advanced technological century.

Rothko on Speed-Dial: Explorations of the Metaphysical Spatiality, Aura, and Mechanical Reproduction of Architecture

<p>This research explores the relationship between architectural space and the abstract expressionist art of Mark Rothko. Rothko’s large format, post-1950’s paintings employing his signature ‘color-field’ style instigated much discourse relating the works to ideas of spatiality: particularly those of atmosphere, emotional intensity, and the abstract presentation of space. This thesis begins with the observation that there is a certain ‘authenticity’ lacking in reproductions of Rothko’s art, where the full effect of the ‘original’ is lost or betrayed in the process of its reproduction. From this premise within art, it finds an analogical relationship between architecture and its reproduction, particularly in photographed space and in the conventions of architectural representation. In both these cases, the full effect of the ‘space’ they describe (their ‘original’) is argued to be in some way lost. To explore this analogy, this thesis firstly develops a relationship between the artist and space: that ‘within’ the artwork, and that between this art and physical spaces (the artist’s studios and spaces of exhibition). Secondly, this thesis develops a shift of the artist’s spatial thinking toward architecture, with particular reference to Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘Aura’ of the original work of art. As read through his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [1936], the Aura is interpreted as the essential ‘authenticity’ of the Original work that is lost within the act of reproduction. The argument concerning Rothko and spatiality is therefore furthered through specifically focussed readings of how this Aura might manifest metaphysically (i.e. experientially, as opposed to physically), through a parallel discussion of Rothko’s art and several ‘thematically’ related architectural case studies. In doing so, it explores the way Auratic architectural experiences can be invoked within the perception of an embodied presence. In both the applied aspect of this research by design thesis, and in its conclusion, there is a relationship highlighted between architectural convention (as reproduction), abstraction, and the immediacy, authenticity or Aura of a spatial encounter. It is concluded that from this singular study of an abstract painter, architects can learn something of the direct exchange or translation between the users of architecture and the transcendental realm of the ideas of architecture or space.</p>

Rothko on Speed-Dial: Explorations of the Metaphysical Spatiality, Aura, and Mechanical Reproduction of Architecture

<p>This research explores the relationship between architectural space and the abstract expressionist art of Mark Rothko. Rothko’s large format, post-1950’s paintings employing his signature ‘color-field’ style instigated much discourse relating the works to ideas of spatiality: particularly those of atmosphere, emotional intensity, and the abstract presentation of space. This thesis begins with the observation that there is a certain ‘authenticity’ lacking in reproductions of Rothko’s art, where the full effect of the ‘original’ is lost or betrayed in the process of its reproduction. From this premise within art, it finds an analogical relationship between architecture and its reproduction, particularly in photographed space and in the conventions of architectural representation. In both these cases, the full effect of the ‘space’ they describe (their ‘original’) is argued to be in some way lost. To explore this analogy, this thesis firstly develops a relationship between the artist and space: that ‘within’ the artwork, and that between this art and physical spaces (the artist’s studios and spaces of exhibition). Secondly, this thesis develops a shift of the artist’s spatial thinking toward architecture, with particular reference to Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘Aura’ of the original work of art. As read through his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [1936], the Aura is interpreted as the essential ‘authenticity’ of the Original work that is lost within the act of reproduction. The argument concerning Rothko and spatiality is therefore furthered through specifically focussed readings of how this Aura might manifest metaphysically (i.e. experientially, as opposed to physically), through a parallel discussion of Rothko’s art and several ‘thematically’ related architectural case studies. In doing so, it explores the way Auratic architectural experiences can be invoked within the perception of an embodied presence. In both the applied aspect of this research by design thesis, and in its conclusion, there is a relationship highlighted between architectural convention (as reproduction), abstraction, and the immediacy, authenticity or Aura of a spatial encounter. It is concluded that from this singular study of an abstract painter, architects can learn something of the direct exchange or translation between the users of architecture and the transcendental realm of the ideas of architecture or space.</p>

From Automaton to Autonomy

This essay considers Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) in relation to Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936) and the writings of two other Frankfurt School critics—Theodor Adorno and Siegfried Kracauer. Anticipating the larger argument of Benjamin’s essay, the film situates its central conflict around the “auratic” (as represented by Maria’s Christianity) and the “mechanical” (as embodied by Joh Fredersen’s technology). This conflict is crystallized by the robotic Maria, who is an exact duplicate of the real Maria. The essay highlights Adorno’s correspondence with Benjamin, examining how Metropolis itself engages with the positions these critics take on mechanical reproduction in film. Especially relevant in this regard is Kracauer’s classic study of German cinema, From Caligari to Hitler (1947), a book that levels against Lang the charge that Marxism often levels against modernism: its formalism mystifies its politics. The essay concludes with an analysis of the flood scene from Metropolis, demonstrating that the film’s formalism is not merely “ornamental”—as Kracauer claimed—and that for Lang political autonomy is inextricably linked with aesthetic autonomy.

Succession of the image

As technology evolves and spheres of information dissemination begin to converge, now is a crucial point to become critical with how these factors are beginning to influence architecture. It is important to understand the ways in which we consume architecture is affecting the architecture we produce. Is architecture a handful of money-shot renderings creating idealised moments captioned with generic copy and paste, or buried in books on shelves? Or have we as architects decided that mechanical reproduction is unable to capture the essence of architecture and that it can only be experienced? The succession of the image is the challenging of conventional methods of communication utilized by the architectural artifact. In focusing on the possibilities afforded via technological advances emerges a variety of mediums for the creation of spatial narratives. The image has progressed and disseminated architecture to this point and it is important to continuously ask what is next.

Succession of the image

As technology evolves and spheres of information dissemination begin to converge, now is a crucial point to become critical with how these factors are beginning to influence architecture. It is important to understand the ways in which we consume architecture is affecting the architecture we produce. Is architecture a handful of money-shot renderings creating idealised moments captioned with generic copy and paste, or buried in books on shelves? Or have we as architects decided that mechanical reproduction is unable to capture the essence of architecture and that it can only be experienced? The succession of the image is the challenging of conventional methods of communication utilized by the architectural artifact. In focusing on the possibilities afforded via technological advances emerges a variety of mediums for the creation of spatial narratives. The image has progressed and disseminated architecture to this point and it is important to continuously ask what is next.