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Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
Response by Jason Miller.

When I began to read this article, once I got passed the gobeltie gook about marx, and his comparisons of socialism, capitalism, and art, it began to speak of authenticity and reproduction, and it went into a brief history of reproduction including the lithograph and the printing press, and I couldn’t help but think of digital art, as that is the class I am reading this for. I began to think about the fact that no one not even the creator of a piece of digital art ever see’s the original, the first thing we see while creating it is a reproduction on a monitor, then maybe the same reproduction on several monitors or printed out.

He goes on to discuss the ritual of non reproducible art, and he states that once is reproducible in mass it stops being so much ritual rather it becomes more political. He also makes assumptions of the rituals behind art that neither he nor anyone alive have any real insight into. Such as stating that cave drawings were not meant for other men to view,rather for the spirits they may have believed in. For all anyone know, the paintings may have simply been a map, to hunting grounds, a tool for basic survival.

He soon started on the subject of photography and film, and asked the question “is it art” or rather “how is it art”. I found his answers some what lacking in depth, or even reality as I see it, in my mind all art, is a way to speak your mind and emotions, to make statements about any number of topics, or feeling, and any medium that one finds him/herself able to do this is art. From bronze sculpture to photography, to stage acting to directing a hollywood blockbuster.

How to Do Things with Pictures
William J. Mitchell
response by Jason Miller

Sense the dawn of the spoken word, man has found ways to break his word, the lie is as old as thought its self, sense the initial incite, that print could be used to advertise, the incite that it is possible to mislead people to you will or your profit has been there. Likewise sense the first use of any type of image as communication, those images have too been used to mislead, one cave man draws, I killed a mammoth this big, so the next draws a bigger one, granted this may not be true but it is possible. Paintings of christian images have been used to promote religion, many religions, and sense not all trains of thought can be true some or all of these images must be misleading. Enter photography, impassable to mislead, until the digital revolution right? Well if one truly believes that, one should take a history of photography class, or al least read up. War photos were set up to look like live action photos, in the civil war, this of course guaranteed the sale of the photo, and of course allowed for ways to mislead the American public to support the war effort. And then there are the infamous images of lee Harvey Oswald, holding a newspaper as to conveniently show us the date, than the 6.5 carcano he was accused of shooting JFK with. Of course many even back then fell that photo was altered by the cia, the fbi or the mafia, or representatives of all three. Now i’m not agreeing or disagreeing with this, but it was certainly possible, far before the digital age. The digital age has simply brought this capability to the masses.

Water Flow and Flux

I think its interesting how the author of the article felt that flux, was the first use, of "truly wet" water in art, or more specifically music. I am not disputing this because I am no expert when it come to the use of water in historical art, but considering the world philosophies that incorporate water, and more specifically its attributes and how it flows.Its life giving generosity, its soothing motion sounds and feel. To its destructive properties. Its ironic actually, how water, in many ways is the most life affirming, and negating forces known to man. for example .besides the obvious thirst we all share. the destructive power of water created the grand canyon, one of the most beautiful and artistically inspiring natural sites on earth. another example, is the wave, the soft soothing sounds of the water rolling through more water, the beautiful white wash formed as the water salt and sand mix.yet a waves have been known to destroy cities. in fact this is the basis of many forms in many martial arts, the distinctively flowing, soft wave that in an instant crashes with a lethal force.

Water has always held a very special place in my soul. relaxing in a car in the pitch black night, lessoning to the rain and hail pound the sheet metal and glass, of my car, while storm tracking for fema. to ridding in a boat pulling people out of flood waters 2 hours later. as well as an black water search and recovery diver for fema, I would spend 20 minutes at a time in the nice cool, hug of this natural sensory depravation chamber, blind to everything around me, hearing nothing but the sound of the motionless water. looking for someone who just hours later met his or her death do to the harshness of this natural mother, that was currently comforting me for my efforts.

Despite this I have yet to use the sound or feel of water in my work. So perhaps it is true that flux, bought out the first substantial use of water in art. as despite the fact that water has always been a large part of my life I have never felt inspired to use it until now. Perhaps I will change this.