blog assignment 6

Modern vision

In this week’s reading Benjamin argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.” Do you agree or disagree? Do you think there is a role for the ‘authentic’ in an age of digital design and manufacture?

In the essay the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction written by Walter Benjamin he argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.”

I disagree with his quote. Whenever a photographer takes a picture of something, that image which they got is the original image. And I believe that if that image were to be printed then that would be the original / authentic print. If someone were to ask the photographer for the authentic print, he could get the image and show the person. Any other prints of that image other than the very first print is just a copy of the original print.

I think that there is a huge role for the authentic in the age of digital design and manufacture. The authentic or the original of a photo, design or anything for that matter is one of a kind. Even though there are many copies of it, there will only be one original. If someone were to say I got the first ever of something then that makes it special. The original would be worth far more than any copy. For example, if someone had the very first coke bottle then that could sell for thousands of dollars where you can go buy a copy of that bottle for only $3.50 from the local dairy.