Monday, February 6, 2012
Art in Odd Places
While reading the material for this week, I found the idea of the reproduction of art interesting, particularly in the piece entitled, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." In it, Walter Benjamin says that "even in the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: it's presence in time and space, it's unique existence at the place where it happens to be."
I ran across this article on a street festival in New York where the ritual and sacred everyday actions are shown in an urban environment.
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110930/manhattan/art-odd-places-festival-turn-14th-street-strange
In this case especially, the physical location plays immensely into the interpretation of the art. If it were shown in someone's home or in a gallery it would not have nearly the same impact.
It's interesting to think about certain pieces of art and how they may be interpreted differently depending on the time and location. If the Mona Lisa, for instance, were not produced in Italy in the 1500s, do you think it would have the same significance?
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Great example! This quote led me to thoughts about the idea that when context is lacking we tend to create it ourselves. for example, I am a very empathetic person... I get very emotional in situations were I am exposed to someone else's emotions, and that includes crying at movies! But what's interesting is that I usually cannot directly sympathized with the given situation... what happens is I think of in my own context (or project myself into their situation) and become emotional. Whether it's a movie, a story or a powerful image that provides a snapshot or segment of a work of art, I develop my own context to close the circle.
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