Walter Benjamin's article "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" explores his ideas that the replication of art depreciates the original work and takes away its 'aura'. This article has great relevence today as our society has entered the digital age and the viewing and replication of 'art' is now in most cases a simple process. Anyone can go onto the internet and see replicated images of any famous art piece. With new technology and sofware such as photoshop, Sound Forge and Video Maker, anyone can create thier own 'art' or manipulate another persons previous work.
It could be argued that now anyone can create a piece of art digitally, it is not art. However I believe it still should be classsified as art. Art is a product of human creativity. Therefore if a person has put in time and effort and the piece holds a significance, then it should be considered art whether it was created digitally or not. However, I do believe that by creating art on a digital platform that it does depreciate the authenticity of it. A photoshop image will never be worth that much to anyone or authentic as it can be copied with two clicks of a mouse and spread around the world.
Going back to Benjamin's ideas, it is clear to see that digital art does not have the unqiue 'aura' he outlines. The reason paintings and drawings have this 'aura' is because there is an original authentic copy that can be seen without electricity, it can be touched and it was skillfulness of the artist that created it. Digital art is skillful in its own way but real art requires the skill and cordination of human functions to create. This is why digital art does not have the 'aura' Benjamin outlines in his article.
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