#art in the age of mechanical reproduction

[ineffablebookgirl]

This Goncharov stuff has really struck a chord with me. It's making me think of that Walter Benajmin thing I read in college on "art in the age of mechanical reproduction." Art is reproduced so quickly it begins to produce itself spontaneously, out of thin air. I'm pretty sure that's not where Walter Benjamin was going with it, but. Something about mimesis and the way that's related with memetic reproduction and memes ... Goncharov is created backwards, starting from the memes, the text analysis, the gifs, and now rudimentary excerpts of a screenplay. Maybe we will see a film by Scorcese one day.

#goncharov #goncharov 1973 #memes #tumblr #the multiplicity of narrative #culture created backwards #art in the age of mechanical reproduction #love this hellsite #unreality #so far

[whifferdills]

new little guy

#art in the age of mechanical reproduction

[therepublicofletters]

My favourite thing about studying fifteenth century Florentine art is going to the Uffizi and getting cursed at by American tourists for standing “in their photo” (in front of Primavera) for more than 30 seconds. Apparently the level of my disrespect is “unbelievable”

#cue Walter Benjamin art in the age of mechanical reproduction #look at it with your EYES for gods sake! #letters from the authoress #stat rosa pristina nomine #I ended up basically lecturing for three hours to this donor and it was great but so exhausting that I feel physically unwell

[screamingfromuz]

I got homework for you- read The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin

here is the free version. read it, all of it.

Now we can talk about the fandomisation of real life events and people, "magic words" politics, populism, the way social media taught people to aestheticize politics to conceal their bigotry

#The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction #walter benjamin #philosophy #politics #identity politics #Aestheticization of politics #facism #treating life like a fandom

[thefiresofpompeii]

me clutching a glowing green resurrection potion syringe in hand: so mr benjamin what do you think of social media in light of your eerily prescient discussion of the ways in which in the age of mass culture every consumer also has the potential to become an author or as they refer to it now a ‘content creator’

benjamin: you guys went to the moon?

me: and particularly the ability of total connectivity and immediacy, a complete negation of any obstacle posed by physical distance or time, to in essence wash writing and art of all semblance of uniqueness and possible ‘cult’ factor? what about andy warhol dude what do you think about warhol

benjamin: the moon? the moon in the fucking sky??

#okay im done liveblogging theory #i want to show this post in class tomorrow #walter benjamin #the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction #jamie.txt

[artofthemindblog]

[O]utmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery – concepts whose uncontrolled (and at present almost uncontrollable) application... lead to a processing of data in the Fascist sense.

Walter Benjamin,  The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

#Walter Benjamin #Benjamin #The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction #social revolution #marxism #genius #quotes #punk #punk philosophy #punk cinema #media #media theory #Fascism #democratisation of art

[chicago-geniza]

RIP Stefania Zahorska you would have loved glossy high-resolution full-color images incorporated into printed books

#She talks about innovations in color printing as this tremendous thing #Where you don't have to take students to museums to teach them about color theory #Especially if they live in rural areas they can really look at art and design #And I was like #Once again if I could give Stef anything to read while she was still alive #In the interwar period #It would be The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction #stefania tag

[mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora]

I think AI generated art would be Benjamin’s worst nightmare

#walter benjamin #the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction #art #ai #ai art #ai generated art #ai artwork #artificial intelligence #philosophy #german philosophy #mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora

[kisskisslovebot]

Humanity’s self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order.

Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction  (1935)

#The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction #walter benjamin

[ophthalmotropy]

I am... done. Wow.

#I wish I'd read it earlier by the way. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction should be mandatory reading. #l33chsp34k

[robbinnnnn]

#walter benjamin #the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction #theory #fascisim #self expression

[larssonmcswain]

Cover design: David Pearson

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

#the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction #book cover #design #book cover design #david pearson

[journalette]

Currently working on an essay on Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction".

#study #studyblr #study blog #studygram #student #college #university #essay #studyblr community #studyspo #Walter Benjamin #book #bookblr #bookstagram #reader #writer #writers community #writers on tumblr #neutral palette

[txttletale]

niceys positive anon!! i don't agree with you on everything but you are so clearly like well read and well rounded that you've helped me think through a lot of my own inconsistencies and hypocrises in my own political and social thought, even if i do have slightly different conclusions at times then u (mainly because i believe there's more of a place for idealism and 'mind politics' than u do). anyway this is a preamble to ask if you have recommended reading in the past and if not if you had any recommended reading? there's some obvious like Read Marx but beyond that im always a little lost wading through theory and given you seem well read and i always admire your takes, i wondered about your recs

it's been a while since i've done a big reading list post so--bearing in mind that my specific areas of 'expertise' (i say that in huge quotation marks obvsies i'm just a girlblogger) are imperialism and media studies, here are some books and essays/pamphlets i recommend. the bolded ones are ones that i consider foundational to my politics

BASICS OF MARXISM

friedrich engels, principles of commmunism

friedrich engels, socialism: utopian & scientific

karl marx, the german ideology

karl marx, wage labour & capital

mao zedong, on contradiction

nikolai bukharin, anarchy and scientific communism

rosa luxemburg, reform or revolution?

v.i lenin, left-wing communism: an infantile disorder

v.i. lenin, the state & revolution

v.i. lenin, what is to be done?

IMPERIALISM

aijaz ahmed, iraq, afghanistan, and the imperialism of our time

albert memmi, the colonizer and the colonized

che guevara, on socialism and internationalism (ed. aijaz ahmad)

eduardo galeano, the open veins of latin america

edward said, orientalism

fernando cardoso, dependency and development in latin america

frantz fanon, black skin, white masks

frantz fanon, the wretched of the earth

greg grandin, empire's workshop

kwame nkrumah, neocolonialism, the last stage of imperialism

michael parenti, against empire

naomi klein, the shock doctrine

ruy mauro marini, the dialectics of dependency

v.i. lenin, imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism

vijay prashad, red star over the third world

vincent bevins, the jakarta method

walter rodney, how europe underdeveloped africa

william blum, killing hope

zak cope, divided world divided class

zak cope, the wealth of (some) nations

MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES

antonio gramsci, the prison notebooks

ed. mick gidley, representing others: white views of indigenous peoples

ed. stuart hall, representation: cultural representations and signifying pratices

gilles deleuze & felix guattari, capitalism & schizophrenia

jacques derrida, margins of philosophy

jacques derrida, speech and phenomena

michael parenti, inventing reality

michel foucault, disicipline and punish

michel foucault, the archeology of knowledge

natasha schull, addiction by design

nick snricek, platform capitalism

noam chomsky and edward herman, manufacturing consent

regis tove stella, imagining the other

richard sennett and jonathan cobb, the hidden injuries of class

safiya umoja noble, algoriths of oppression

stuart hall, cultural studies 1983: a theoretical history

theodor adorno and max horkheimer, the culture industry

walter benjamin, the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction

OTHER

angela davis, women, race, and class

anna louise strong, cash and violence in laos and vietnam

anna louise strong, the soviets expected it

anna louise strong, when serfs stood up in tibet

carrie hamilton, sexual revolutions in cuba

chris chitty, sexual hegemony

christian fuchs, theorizing and analysing digital labor

eds. jules joanne gleeson and elle o'rourke, transgender marxism

elaine scarry, the body in pain

jules joanne gleeson, this infamous proposal

michael parenti, blackshirts & reds

paulo freire, pedagogy of the oppressed

peter drucker, warped: gay normality and queer anticapitalism

rosemary hennessy, profit and pleasure

sophie lewis, abolish the family

suzy kim, everyday life in the north korean revolution

walter rodney, the russian revolution: a view from the third world

#ask #avowed inframaterialist reading group #i obviously do not 100% agree with all the points made by and conclusions reached by these works #but i think they are valuable and useful to read

[henrykathman]

The Greatest Movie You'll Never See! - Goncharov (1973)

I believe that I have made the most comprehesive video essay on the 1973 film Goncharov that has been released to date, including restored footage, interviews, and rare behind-the-scenes insight into this forgotten film.

More info below the cut

Special Thanks to Molly Noise (She/Her) for composing the original music Matt Crowley (He/Him) for his quotes Marisa BeBeau (She/Her) for graciously letting me interview her. You can support her work at @sabertoothwalrus

You can also buy a copy of the 'Nico the Catboy' zine here!

Bibliography

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Penguin Books, 1935, pp. 1–26. Connanro. “Goncharov Master Document.” Google Docs, 20 Nov. 2022, docs.google.com/document/d/1Fbcn96MKyc1Bky6c0Ffex4APtar9iNht8ytfZHPpSss/edit#heading=h.bpd1oee4nr3q. Accessed 16 Mar. 2023. Jacobsen, Emily. “Ratatouille the Musical (Full Show).” YouTube, 9 Dec. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pdTi-R-Apw. Accessed 15 Mar. 2023. Juli. “Goncharov Score Masterpost.” Tumblr, 21 Nov. 2022, www.tumblr.com/thisisnotjuli/701573313313587200/goncharov-score-masterpost?source=share. Accessed 16 Mar. 2023. Lauren Shippen. “Ice Pick Joe Quote.” Tumblr, 1 Nov. 2022, thelaurenshippen.tumblr.com/post/701652426816733184/i-know-that-ice-pick-joe-operates-mostly-as-a. Accessed 15 Mar. 2023. Marisa BeBeau. “Nico the Catboy Archive.” Sabertoothwalrus, Tumblr, 25 Oct. 2020, sabertoothwalrus.tumblr.com/tagged/nico%20the%20catboy/chrono. Accessed 15 Mar. 2023.

#goncharov #gonchposting #goncharov 1973 #matteo jwhj 0715 #nico the catboy #ratatousical #martin scorsese #goncharov analysis #video essay #goncharov video essay #unreality #Youtube

[determinate-negation]

what's ur opinion on people using AI to make art and stuff ?

as a marxist i dont believe that technology itself can be inherently bad or any of these basically luddite takes that people have about AI. developments in technology often disenfranchise certain class strata which depend on an earlier form of production, and are either proletarianized or forced to find other ways to adapt to shifting markets and the decline of their industry. this is nothing new, its a frequent process of capitalism, similar to craftsmen and artisans work being devalued with the development of industry. attempting to reject the technology itself is misguided and also just doesnt work, so im against these views and also against the idea that AI is 'stealing jobs from artists.' this is a simplistic view that lends itself well to the forces of reaction. essentially, i have no issue with AI as a potential art medium.

the other issue, that is more complex, that some people in these AI debates seem to be grasping at but usually formulate this in a very simplistic and often crass way, is about what constitutes a great work of art, how to asses a work of art, in what way does art represent something that the artist created in it, art as human striving towards something etc. people have used a lot of different types of technology to create something interesting, but still this depends on the vision of the artist. its also necessary to look at art today the context of the development of cultural production as an industry in itself, and cultural products as truly products in the capitalist sense, commodities on the market. there also are plenty of interesting debates and analyses on how technology develops under capitalism, which i can post some titles and links of if you want. theres also a lot of cool stuff people have written about technology and art specificallly, id recommend this essay by walter benjamin

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

#technology