Dada vs. Walter Benjamin: What Value Does Dada Have in Context of Walter Benjamins the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction?
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Unit 7.
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Dada Vs. Walter Benjamin:
What value does Dada have in context of Walter Benjamins The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction?
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Martin Hannon
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Martin Newth
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B.A. Photography, Year 2.
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I have often been attracted to both the visual aesthetic, critical standpoint and to some extent the theory of artists Hannah Hoch and Kurt Schwitters, members of Dada; the multi-disciplinarian art movement of early 20th century Europe. So much so, that I was intrigued to find the following description of their practice whilst reading an essay concerning the nature of art in the modern world by Walter Benjamin:
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‘Their poems are “word salad” containing obscenities and every imaginable waste product of language. The same is true of their paintings, on which they mounted buttons and tickets. What they intended and achieved was a relentless destruction of the aura of their creations, which they branded as reproductions with the very means of production.’
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(Benjamin, W., 1936)
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As we can quite plainly see from the above quotation, Benjamins view on Dada would seem one of dislike. What was it he disliked about Dada? Was he right? And are the two as different as we might first imagine?
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To solve these intriguing questions, we need to understand exactly what it is that Mr. Benjamin refers to by the term ‘aura’; their relentless destruction of which, he credits as the cause of their art
Unit 7.
-------------------------------------------------
Dada Vs. Walter Benjamin:
What value does Dada have in context of Walter Benjamins The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction?
-------------------------------------------------
Martin Hannon
-------------------------------------------------
Martin Newth
-------------------------------------------------
B.A. Photography, Year 2.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
I have often been attracted to both the visual aesthetic, critical standpoint and to some extent the theory of artists Hannah Hoch and Kurt Schwitters, members of Dada; the multi-disciplinarian art movement of early 20th century Europe. So much so, that I was intrigued to find the following description of their practice whilst reading an essay concerning the nature of art in the modern world by Walter Benjamin:
-------------------------------------------------
‘Their poems are “word salad” containing obscenities and every imaginable waste product of language. The same is true of their paintings, on which they mounted buttons and tickets. What they intended and achieved was a relentless destruction of the aura of their creations, which they branded as reproductions with the very means of production.’
-------------------------------------------------
(Benjamin, W., 1936)
-------------------------------------------------
As we can quite plainly see from the above quotation, Benjamins view on Dada would seem one of dislike. What was it he disliked about Dada? Was he right? And are the two as different as we might first imagine?
-------------------------------------------------
To solve these intriguing questions, we need to understand exactly what it is that Mr. Benjamin refers to by the term ‘aura’; their relentless destruction of which, he credits as the cause of their art
Bibliography: Books Benjamin, W. (1936), The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Penguin Dachy, M. (2006), Dada, The Revolt of Art. Thames & Hudson Shiner, L. (2003) The Invention of Art: A Cultural History. University of Chicago Press Tsara, T. Quoted in Beitchman, P. (1988) "Symbolism in the Streets", in I Am a Process with No Subject. University of Florida Press