Assignment 5

‘Authentic’ in the ‘Digital Design’

I agree with Benjamin’s argument because it’s true that Art reproduced, is not similar to the original art work. There would be reproduce art designs which can’t match original one or become original. The original art has its own value and that should be respected and preserved. More over reproduction of art is a long ancient process which is increasing more with new technological developments, which means it is not a fresh occurrence. This process has begin in prehistoric Greece with the invention of cutting wood into designs, which could reproduce different patterns using ink on fabric, wood or paper. The initiation of art reproduction represents a revolutionary type of technology in many different ways, still being part of historical process. The digital reproduction of anything is not dependent on any materiality in the process but it is distinct from the quantification of an image of a material object. As the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the traditional domain, by making many reproductions of art it substitutes a plurality of copies for a sole existence.
Even if you do perfect reproduction of a work of art, it lacks in element of presence of time and same space. In today’s technological world, the digital art work can be imitated a thousand times, each copy being flawlessly indistinguishable. With this not only Authenticity became meaningless but also the time and space became vagueness. In the digital age there could be an “original” somewhere in the world that was scanned, sampled or digitized but the digital art form takes on a life of its own.