Mechanical Reproduction- Benjamin

"We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art." - Paul Valery, Pieces sur L' Art, 1931

This was a very long article that I had to read a few times in order to grasp it all with understanding. The comparison of marxism vs. capitalism to printmaking, photography, and film was a bit overwhelming. I see though how printmaking started to change the way of the art world and where that took us from there. This all was the outcome and start of the mechanical reproduction. This was a great thing to happen to the American people and the world, mass production was the answer. We want more, faster and begin to lose a sense of tradition and the unique existence of a piece of art. Benjamin talks about the aura of a piece has been lost through the mechanical reproduction. Each time a piece of is reproduced it is degraded more every time until it becomes nothing more than part of the mass media.