Reading: Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972)
VIEW:
Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection (MFA)
Prepare and post response notes (a minimum of two paragraphs per essay) to the class forum
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Class01 Readings
Reading: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin (1935)
Reading: Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972)
VIEW:
Identify and research one author featured in the exhibition and prepare a brief one page review of the work (note: your review is not to be a description of the work on display but a thoughtful analysis of the exhibition) due class three (3)
Prepare and post response notes (a minimum of two paragraphs per essay) to the class forum
Reading: Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972)
VIEW:
Prepare and post response notes (a minimum of two paragraphs per essay) to the class forum
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Alissa D. Brossmer
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“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
By. Walter Benjamin
Notes I scribbled on the side of the reading with a mechanical pencil.
With art you speak your mind and express your opinions in a unique way regardless of the opinion of others. This idea plays a large role in politics either for us, or agents us depending on your type of government.
Reproductions seemed to be of smaller value to its original but it is more popular in most cases. So is it lesser value and to who?
Photography takes over because it is closer to what we perceive as “real”.
Art is always recycled ideas… Technology is similar where once you discover something that discovery can develop something else. Film photography = film movies.
The aura is a beautiful thing…. I almost cried when I unknowingly strolled into a gallery with Gary Schneider’s work up…. What a day.
“ … all legends, all mythologies and all myths, all founders of religion, and the very religions… await their exposed resurrection…” Very very true! All idea and thoughts get passed down and help create other ideas, which helps us GROW! (Jumps in the air, and freeze frame)
“Every day the urge grows stronger to get hold of an object at very close range by way of its likeness, it’s reproductions.” … This statement goes back to the never-ending conversations, is reproductions a good or bad thing? To me, it’s both.
Interesting explanation on how film enhances our perception as viewers… the history and for the future… both interesting and terrifying.
Alissa D. Brossmer
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Ways of Seeing
By. John Berger
Response
Reading this essay made me very sad. It was am amazing and EASY TO FOLLOW essay but the banter about vision, perception and what we see made me think so much about blindness. Not only is it one of my biggest fears but its something I think of far to often…. But that’s a whole other conversation, back to the essay. I have read this reading a time or two before so I know it but I do love it so much that I’m glad I get to read it again. The understanding of perception, the media, sign and signifier; all of these things that go into how we precise what we see and why we perceive it that way, are so interesting to read and talk about. It also it a frustrating thing at times, where you’re the one who is trying to put a certain idea across.
Michaela Rocchio Responses 1 & 2
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By: Walter Benjamin
I did not really start feeling any responses to this essay until I was a few pages into reading it. The first few pages did actually loose me a few times and throughout both essays, I’m still not 100% sure what role Marxism plays in all of this. I agree when he says that technical reproduction had “captured a place of its own among the artistic processes”. I quite often see friends’ pictures online of paintings or other pieces of art snapped with their camera phone. The first thing I think of is “why did they photograph this, it’s not like they did anything to create it” and then I think “well maybe they wanted to share this with people who may have not seen it”. But taking a picture of something and sharing it online, and now with iphone apps that change the coloring of the image, it influences us in major ways. When I see someone post a picture of a painting or sculpture and then add a filter onto it, it changes the way I see it, and is not how it is supposed to be viewed.
“… The unique value of the ‘authentic’ work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value.” It’s important that we know how the things around us interfere or support the images we see. Does seeing the Mona Lisa on tee shirts and coffee mugs really devalue it? If you were to walk into the room where it is on display, would you not stare in awe at it? Perhaps seeing it on everything and it being so popular only makes it more interesting to see. It probably doesn’t help that it would be likely that you would be in a crowd with other tourists trying to see it and that would also take away from the image. I have a big poster of Stary Night on my living room wall. Sometimes it catches glare and looks like crap, but when I look at it, it reminds me of many things; it reminds me of the artist, and of nature. In the end, that’s what really matters, how it affects you.
Essay Response #2
By: John Berger
I am not going to lie, the first time I read this, I read it backwards. Yeah, and I didn’t really notice, because it still sort of made sense. I re-read it and still got the same responses as the first time around. The one thing that kept floating around my head and giggling was that we are asked to look at the images in the essay, and think about what the author is saying about them. Problem is, they are horrible copies, and you can barely see them. It was really ironic.
“What the modern means of reproduction have done is to destroy the authority of art and to remove it or rather, to remove its images which they reproduce.” My first thought was, does it really destroy the authority of art? I feel like destroy is too heavy of a word for what it does. I loved that there is now a “language of images” and what matters is what the purpose is. I personally still feel overwhelmed when I see things in a museum or gallery, even if I have seen them in other forms before. I feel like sometimes the setting doesn’t even matter, it’s just the art. I think it’s important that even though there is all of this influence around the art and of the art, it is special to just see the art.
Casey Taillacq
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Walter Benjamin "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
I would like to start off by saying that I am actually glad I read these readings after I made my trip to The MFA. It really did make seeing these original pieces of artwork seem so much more powerful after reading these pieces, and gave me a little bit of a stronger appreciation for being able to actually witness these historic images.
Here are some notes I scribbled down, besides my scribbling of defining new vocabulary words.. It's kind of funny how so many people are actually okay with only seeing reproductions of art without ever seeing the actual original artwork. It really is a different feeling when you get to see original pieces of artwork in person though if you really invest in thinking about how much that piece has been through, like where it was made, how, when and why, and even the locations it has been displayed in, or how if you really look close you can see not only the details of the work, but you can also see wear and tear that comes about over time. I feel that best defines what Walter Benjamin is saying by describing the aura of an image and how only the original really holds that one of a kind aura. This essay makes you really think about how many famous paintings and other forms of art that you have seen throughout your life in many different environments compared to how many you have actually seen straight up in real life, and it really is funny how familiar you may be with the image, but you still have yet to really see things and experience things when you actually see this pieces in real life.
Response to Ways of Seeing by John Berger
I had the same reaction as Alissa, I too had read this essay already, but am so happy I read it again because it really does open your mind to really appreciate being able to see. I had the same thoughts and fears of blindness, because as an image maker my eyesight is very precious to me. "Seeing comes before words". That is so very true, my nephew is about 8 months old now and he is almost ready to talk, but even more so he has been seeing the world now for the first 8 months of his life before words have even begun to form in his mind, it's kind of strange how so often we forget that it came first. It was also interesting how John Berger mentioned how images are not how the world really is, but only how one person, one artist saw the world at one time, and it is their interpretation and not how the world actually is.
Richard Knight Reading Responses
ReplyDeleteBengamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Response #1
Berger “Ways of Seeing” Response #2
#1
“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” speaks to the levels and forms that art is presented to us. It also relates Bengamin’s view on the dissemination of works thru reproductions as a form of Marxism. This was not made clear to me since it appears that Bengamin makes a strong distinction between what is a reproduced image and what is the original. He seems to be in favor of reproductions in a situation where it is “out of reach” for one to consume the original, but by making the distinction between the original and a reproduction he has placed more value on the original and that is a very capitalistic idea.
#2
“Ways Of Seeing” is always an interesting read. What I find most interesting about this particular read is the underlined sections. Not what is actually underlined but how it effects what I read and how much weight I give the sections underlined. It’s almost like while reading about perception one is trying to guide and alter my perception. Is it all important or just the parts underlined?
Mike Tucker Reading Responses
ReplyDelete“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Response #1
Looking back to last week, I can see why we were advised to read this work before Berger’s; Benjamin’s views on reproduction are very grasping and thought provoking. “Replicas were made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and, finally, by third parties in pursuit of gain.” The topic of reproductions is an excellent one because in some cases, depending on the viewers taste or attitude towards the work, a reproduction can also be considered a better version. Maybe the artist grew and developed techniques that benefited the piece. Maybe 100 years down the road someone recreated a piece of art, perfect in every way, just to further their skills as an artist and be at the level of the original.
“Ways of Seeing” Response #2
“Soon after we see, we are aware that we can also be seen.” That statement becomes more obvious and more apparent to me as time passes. Its one of those statements that can be considered a road block in my mind from the second I read it, it hasn’t been overcome. The thought of vision and sight in art is fascinating and putting it to terms as Berger did, it has definitely opened my eyes to some new things involving sight in the photographic world. I also found the reproduction points Berger was making to be incredibly interesting. Especially when we are shown “Venus and Mars” a painting with several allegorical figures and directly underneath it we are shown one of the woman’s face in its own frame, it obviously takes away from the image above it. it most certainly takes away from all of the context originally around it.
Debra Flechner
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Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Response #1 Berger “Ways of Seeing” Response #2
#1 Although I didn’t and still don’t fully understand what the meaning that was in this though I am going to think that in the beginning that the way that art works in the reproduction and how new ways on how art was produced became easier and simpler to use. First it was the reproduction with lithography then when photography came in it became the new way in producing art because it was as said in the reading how photography could keep up with speech. Then he explains how having the original is important because of its authenticity. Having reproductions is all well and good but having the original somewhere is where the real importance lies in a piece of art.
#2 “Ways of seeing” reminded me about the way that I currently look when i look at art. I takes me a couple times to fully embody myself in a work of art because when i first see is: is it beautiful or not? What is the most interesting thing that I like about this photograph? How can I relate to what the maker is trying to say. the last is mostly is it something that may offend me or make me bored when I look at it. Images as a whole speak though the fact of having someone observe and clarify what they think the photograph is trying to say though there is always many who believe one thing and it is usually not when the image maker is saying. Having that wide range of people who observe and creates those pieces of art is an interesting way in how people perceive art.