- It is used as a key tool in metamorphosis.
- Acts as a service provider, photography is diseminating the subject.
* In the history of Art & Design, photography was not/is not percieved as an important art form.
Out of all of the images of the Mona Lisa: that in the Louvre, postcards, photographs, tshirts, bags etc which is 'alive', which is 'dead', which is 'live' and what make it 'live'?
Talk about this in relation to Malraux and Benjamin.
- In relation to the Mona Lisa itself, I believe the original is 'dead'; the painting is small, it doesn't have an 'Aura' and I believe the viewer/audience find it difficult to get a feel for it.
- In terms of reproductions of the Mona Lisa, they may not have the 'Aura' but they could be seen as 'live' because they can be touched/consumed.
- It could be said the hype surrounding the painting is 'alive'
- Marinetti would describe the painting as 'live', work by dead people (memory of something), but I would also reference Marinetti in the idea that the work is 'dead' as he describes in'Museums are cemetaries', the artist is dead, the work is in a Temple of Culture meaning most of the other work is by dead artists. The art is 'dead'/static.
- Boudrillard's theory of seeing through a screen would apply to this analysis and in any reproduction of the image, the 'Aura' is shifted from the original.
- The aspect that is 'alive' could be the idea surrounding the Mona Lisa and not the actual object, if the object is removed the emphasis lies on the concept.
- In terms of what 'live' actually means, it could be said that the streaming/photography of the Mona Lisa is 'live.
Walter Benjamin:
Benjamin welcomes the idea of photography emancipating the masses (freeing the people) and argues that it undermines the quasi-magical 'Aura' of the unique work of art by creating a multiplicity of copies in places of a single original.
What does this mean/what is your opinion in relation to your practice? - Photography
In photography there are no originals and so there is no authenticity to its work, therefore I don't believe there is such a thing as an 'Aura' around a photograph nor is there uniqueness in the first place. Much of photography is based around reproduction and so it could be argued that in order to feel the 'Aura' around a photograph there would be a certain connection between the photograph and the context in which it is being viewed.
AUDIENCE & ENCOUNTER
- Chris Ofili
- Experiencing the work of art/design.
Carole Duncan - Civilising Rituals
Roland Barthe - The dead of the author
1. Prescribed Routes
- Sights of display, galleries etc usually have prescribed routes, especially in Temples of Culture. These are set up so the audience view more 'important' work first meaning if they miss the last rooms/routes they only miss out on less important works.
* The Canon: Describing a well known artist e.g Male, Western, pre 1970s.
* Conical: Famous/important work.
- The way or order in which you see things, the canon and heiraches of taste.
- Who decides what goes into the canon of art & design? And who decides what is good taste?
Carole Duncan (1995)
- She talks of Liminality and the gallery as a ritual ground.
- She discusses how your behaviour changes in a public space to a gallery, in galleries there are different concepts of time, they can be described as 'other worldly', liminal and ritual like.
- The audience is confronted with the 'Aura' of the art work, and so galleries become places of worship.
E.g Work that is placed under spot lights in a gallery have an 'Aura' about them, they become detached and isolated from the everyday; and so the spot light 'tells' the audience where to look.
- White Cube galleries/museums could also been viewed as a ritual ground, the work is framed by the neutral space. Ryan Doherty - Could argue.
- Ritual processions through prescribed routes in the gallery/museum. The audience and viewers have a collective experience there if there is an apparent notion of a route or order.
Liminality
How might you talk about Duncan's theory in relation to Chris Ofili's 'The Upper Room'?
- It appears to be one holistic space, the benches act as viewing platforms.
- 'Aura' is created by the intensity of the colours and the way the room is lit.
- It is designed in a church like space, the colours and lights reflect those of stain glass windows in churches.
- The reflection of the paintings is seen on the viewer making them part of the work/religious space.
- Anthropomorphic, the room and work have a human feel about them.
- Alive.
- As a viewer there is something in the positioning of the work that makes you feel part of it.
- Liminality, not part of everday reality, other worldly.
What has happened to the 'ritual ground' at the Photographers Gallery, London?
- Ritual ground has been subverted.
- The space has become a social area.
- There is no precribed routes.
- The space is not liminal, it's relaxed.
- Appears to be an 'everyday', normal space.
Example of Duncan's notion of ritual ground being subverted. Problematized.
- The 'Aura' surrounding the work is effected/lost. Linear.
Roland Barthes - 'The Death of the Author'
" The birth of the reader is at the cost of the death of the author."
- By freeing up the work, not considering the author to be the dominent part.
1. Romantic myth of the lone genius artist: Jackson Pollock.
vs
2. Contemporary notions of collaborative creativity: David Carson.
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