At the beginning, Walter Benjamin gave comprehensive and insightful explanation of the underlying mechanism beneath the phenomena of the changes in art perception, and the differences brought by advancement in technological reproducibility, which enlightened me about my previous thoughts on the high arts and low arts in comparison between the ancient artefacts and the newly emerged digital art, as a visual art student. My complicated different feelings and thoughts on the two types of arts, which I failed to put into words, are now expounded and further elaborated by the author, in the terms of “authenticity”, “ the here and now”, and “the aura”.
I’m intrigued, though was a bit confused, when reading about the discussion in the tensions between pairs of polars: the prehistoric and present technologies, the cult and exhibition values of arts, the capacity of improvements in ancient and present arts, etc., these concepts presented intensely and tightly connected, at once challenged my capability of reception, and eventually inspired me a lot. It seems clearer for me to position art forms, particularly, films in the spectrums of these polars, and it’s a good steppingstone for me to understand the role of films in the realm of art with reviewing it from the perspective of history and society.
HE LOK YIU Melody 3035980120
You demonstrated good understanding to Benjamin’s idea and I appreciate your personal reflections of authenticity in high and low art. You have identified insightful questions and tensions in the field of art and its reception under different contexts.