The Emancipation of Art(Re: What are the key arguments against the separation of high art and low art?

Erin GillespieETEC 531

June 6, 2009

Welcome to...a conversation with myself...to answer:

How was art freed?

... if....

Art was separated from the masses...

Very few would recognize a masterpiece....

Leonardo Davinci’s Mona Lisa(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

or appreciate new techniques...

Claude Monet’s Waterlilies (Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

...or be able to see frescos...

Michelangelo Buonarroti’s The Creation of Adam(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

...or famous architecture.

Taj Mahal(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

....wait, didn’t I just sample and reproduce? This production should be an original work of art for my

class project.....

Oh well, back to my argument....

Craftsmanship would not be art.

Pearson Scott Foundation’s Lace(Wikimedia Commons License)

Gerrit Rietveld’s Chair(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

This is NOT ART!

We lived in a world where TECHNOLOGY divided the artistic process into mechanized tasks, removing the artist from the craft.

Crafts were created in mass quantities and obtainable by the masses, but art was obtainable by few in society.

Art=High Crafts=Low

Art was imprisoned, but the technology that caged art also set it free.....

Pearson Scott Foundation’s Cage(Wikimedia Commons License)

Nevit Dilman’s Bird(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

through REPRODUCTION

...but isn’t reproduction, well, fake?

Aren’t I just copying another artist?

That’s not original art.

Modernists used technology to transform their art, refusing to separate the artist from the craft, breaking down the high vs. low art dichotomy.

Postmodern art (Pop art) mixed older artistic styles with new styles through the use of technology.

Reproduction gave the masses access to the mechanical and to art.

Reproduction gave the masses access to the mechanical and to art.

Art was emancipated.

Mona Lisa Twirled(Wikimedia Commons License)

So I can create a representation of the real....but it’s Baudrillard’s hyperreal because a representation isthe only Mona Lisa I know (Murphie & Potts, 2003; Simulacra (n.d.). Is this freeing artor creating...nothing?

Consider the alternate.

No mass production, no access, no sampling, no reproduction, no representation, no mixing, no copies...

Modernists could not use technology to transform their art. Frustrated, the artist remained separate from the craft, maintaining the high vs. low art dichotomy.

The movement died out.Postmodern art never was.trough the

use of technology.

Reproduction gave the masses access to the mechanical and to art.

Art remained imprisoned.

...and architecture was seen by few

Taj Mahal(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

You wouldn’t know this...

Michelangelo Buonarroti’s The Creation of Adam(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

or appreciate new techniques...

Claude Monet’s Waterlilies (Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

or a masterpiece....

Leonardo Davinci’s Mona Lisa(Wikimedia Commons Gnu License)

..or appreciate thisas original art.

Reproduction has removed the aura from art that was once reserved for the socially elite and politically powerful. Technical reproduction “captured a place of its own among the artistic process.” (Benjamin, 1936, p. 2).

I see... then this presentation is art! You accessed images and manipulated them using technology to produce something real and original.

ExactlyThrough technological reproduction and modes of representation, art was emancipated.

“Mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.” (Benjamin, 1936, p. 5)

References Benjamin, W. (1936). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction [Class

handout].Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia, ETEC 531. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/Imported_Resources/etec_531_det_course_20070528143010/Modules/Module2/Content/PDFs/benjamin.pdf

Ellul, J. (2001). Remarks on technology and art. Bulletin of Science: Technology & Society, 21(1), 26-37. Retrieved May 18, 2009, from http://bst.sagepub.com at University of British Columbia Library.

Murphie, A., & Potts, J. (2003). Culture and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan.

Simulacra and simulation (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Available June 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

All multimedia in this production is available through open source licensing.

Multimedia Resources

Images

Bird Cage: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cage_(PSF).jpgDilman, Nevit (2008). Bird. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bird_1010720_drawing.svgGerrit Rietveld’s Chair:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rietveld_chair_1.JPGGirl Silhouette: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1193153Lace: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lace_(PSF).pngMona Lisa: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa.jpegMona Lisa Eyes: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa_detail_eyes.jpgMona Lisa Face: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa_detail_face.jpgMona Lisa Twirled: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_lisa_twirled.jpgNeon Swirl: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1062038Taj Mahal: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taj_mahal_in_march_2004.jpgThe Creation of Adam: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa.jpegWaterlilies: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claude_Monet-Waterlilies.jpg

Soundtrack

Northup, J.B. (1998) Stream of unconsciousness: 1-2-3-4. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://www.opsound.org/artist/stateoftheart/