The essay analyses the famous text by Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproduction" (1936) from the point of view of the question of technology and particularly of the historical relationship between technology and politics. In this aesthetic-theoretical framework the peculiarity of Benjamin's position is regarded as capable of overcoming the pathological oscillation between "filotechnia" and "misotechnia". Then, it is evaluated and appreciated how Benjamin understands the relationship between the technological and the moral progress of humanity in its political drama, without empathetic emphasis or naive reductionism. In this regard it is, therefore, also confronted the position of Benjamin with those, in some respects converging, of Heidegger and of Adorno. In this context the essay investigates Benjamin's conception of art as a "perfecting mimesis" ("eine vollendende Mimesis") towards nature, considering the necessary changes of the classical idea of mimetic art in relation to the principle of technical reproducibility. Changes even more necessary in the age of digital production of artworks.

The Mimetic Bond: Benjamin and the Question of Technology / F. DESIDERI. - STAMPA. - (2005), pp. 108-120.

The Mimetic Bond: Benjamin and the Question of Technology

DESIDERI, FABRIZIO
2005

Abstract

The essay analyses the famous text by Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproduction" (1936) from the point of view of the question of technology and particularly of the historical relationship between technology and politics. In this aesthetic-theoretical framework the peculiarity of Benjamin's position is regarded as capable of overcoming the pathological oscillation between "filotechnia" and "misotechnia". Then, it is evaluated and appreciated how Benjamin understands the relationship between the technological and the moral progress of humanity in its political drama, without empathetic emphasis or naive reductionism. In this regard it is, therefore, also confronted the position of Benjamin with those, in some respects converging, of Heidegger and of Adorno. In this context the essay investigates Benjamin's conception of art as a "perfecting mimesis" ("eine vollendende Mimesis") towards nature, considering the necessary changes of the classical idea of mimetic art in relation to the principle of technical reproducibility. Changes even more necessary in the age of digital production of artworks.
2005
9780826467294
Walter Benjamin and Art
108
120
F. DESIDERI
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/228474
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