Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Oh dear, this article really struggled to sink in the first time I read it... especially after the night I had last night! However, after going over it a few times and highing certain parts that I understood well and thought were interesting, it turns out this Walter Benjamin dude's writings on modernism are valued for being so illuminating and precise at a time when much confusion and derision surrounded the movement and have gone on to set the tone for a more recent generation of critics who continue to unravel the threads of modernism using his example.

"The Work Of Art in the Age Of Mechanical Reproduction" is a 1936 essay by German cultural critic Walter Benjamin. It was written in the effort to describe a theory of art that would be "useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art". In this very complex article, Walter Benjamin shares with readers his personal viewpoint of replicating art. The paper explains his very critical attitude towards replicating artwork.

Overall this article focuses on Walter Benjamin’s views of nearly every single form of art that existed in his lifetime – and some that came before. The views of its author are very clear. The replication of art in Walter Benjamin’s mind undermines the authenticity and uniqueness of the original work.

I don't believe that a photoshopped image is considered to be "authentic" and obviously Walter Benjamin would not think so either. With photoshop you're adding, cutting and mixing in elements that are not part of the original image, thus inhibiting the authenticity of the image.... or "aura" as Benjamin would call it.

Benjamin used the word "aura" to refer to the sense of awe and admiration one presumably experiences in the presence of unique works of art. In answering the question, "Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?" I would definitely say no from what I have read in this article.