Idea - Aura

AURA

As defined by Walter Benjamin, the aura is “the unique apparition of a distance, however near it may be.”

Walter Benjamin’s discussion of the aura is widely known and has been used in reference to many aspects of the art world.  The following excerpt is from a review of the article by Richard Kazis.  This article can be found at http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC15folder/WalterBenjamin.html

“Today, no discussion of the German intellectual scene between the world wars is complete without a mention of Benjamin, and no serious appraisal of Marxist aesthetic and cultural criticism ignores his work. His 1936 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” has become a standard reference for any attempts to analyze and understand the interrelation of political, technological and artistic development under capitalism. His insights are especially useful for the political analysis of film.”

Walter Benjamin’s full article:

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Maria Buszek. N.p., 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2010.

     <http://www.mariabuszek.com/ucd/Methods/Readings/BenjRepro.pdf>.

QUOTES

“In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Benjamin analyzes how mechanical reproduction destroys the uniqueness and authenticity, the “aura” as he labeled it, of the work of art. The withering of aura in the age of mechanical reproduction is inevitable. And, in many respects, it is a good thing. If the mystique of the “original” is broken down, if the work of art is torn from the “fabric of tradition” (p. 211) of which it was a part, then it loses its false importance."

“For Benjamin, the withering of the aura is the result of two developments unique to film, the new relation between actor and audience and the mass nature of the medium. In the theater, the actor responds to and adjusts to the audience. Each performance is different: there is a subtle interaction, a unique experience of relation between actor and audience. In film, there is no audience for the performance; there is only the camera. In fact, the actor’s performance is not one performance but rather a series of performances. A film is an ordering of multiple fragments, a series of scenes shot in order of expedience rather than in logical or temporal order. The actor is put in the paradoxical situation of operating with his/her whole living person while being robbed of the aura that is tied to his/her presence. The actor is present to the camera, not to the audience; as a result, “the audience’s identification with the actor is really an identification with the camera” (p. 228).”

Both of the above quotes are from: Kazis, Richard. "Benjamin's age of mechanical reproduction." Jump Cut - A Review of Contemporary Media 15 (1977, 2004): 23-25. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC15folder/WalterBenjamin.html>.

“This article explores Walter Benjamin’s famous concept of the aura in relation to his writings on photography.  Although Benjamin’s “Artwork” essay charges photography with the decline of the aura of the traditional artwork, his essay on photography complicates this historical narrative, associating aura with early portrait photography but also with its successor, the commercial studio portrait.  The childhood photograph of Franz Kafka, whose melancholy air serves Benjamin as an example of a paradoxical, post-auatic aura, recurs in his childhood memoirs, where the narrator projects himself into the picture.  Benjamin’s writings on photography thus develop an alternative concept of aura, one which transcends fixed historical or technological categories through the model of an imaginary encounter between viewer and image.  This conception has far-reaching consequences not only for the theory of photography but also for its role within literature, as is suggested by Benjamin’s empathetic engagement with the Kafka photograph and its incorporation into his own life story.”

This is the abstract from Carolin Duttlinger’s essay, “Imaginary Encounters: Walter Benjamin and the Aura of Photography.”  She is a professor of Medieval and Modern Languages at Wadham College in Oxford.  The entirety of the text can be found at http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=105&sid=dc6a39f5-feb4-4208-85ee-3dbca0699ce9%40sessionmgr112

I have become very fascinated with the concept of aura.  I experience an odd, uplifting feeling when looking at old family photographs, documents, and objects.  Benjamin discusses the loss of aura in the act of reproduction, but a blurred line for old portrait photographs and the studio portrait.  I find this idea to be very interesting.  Even if I feel a strong aura from the things that I have from my family, is it possible for viewers, other than an intellectual like Benjamin, to experience this same kind of effect? Th aura is not limited only to art, but also to people.  There are even websites that give detailed descriptions on how to "cleanse" one's aura.  Is it possible to "cleanse" the aura of a work of art, or photograph?  Or what about the viewer? Can I cleanse the viewer's aura and/or his/her sense of aura in relation to my presented photograph? I am definitely going to read much more into Benjamin's writings, there are just too many for one little blog post.  After consideration of aura, I am going to combine several different photographs together to see if I can create this aura.  The old, original family photographs, a commerical studio portrait of myself with my great grandmother's hair, grandmother's necklace, and mother's skirt, and also simple, straight documentation of the actual objects that I have to try to capture, or create, or reinvent, this aura.