Walter Benjamin - Aura

His theory is that Historically, works of art had an 'aura' - an appearance of magical or supernatural force arising from their uniqueness. The aura has disappeared in the modern age because art has become more reproducible. He compares the difference between paintings that have been made into posters and original literature books made into paper backs. Aura is connected to the idea of 'authenticity' Authenticity cannot be reproduced and disappears when everything is reproduced.  

Print Culture

Printing press was invented in Germany by Johannes Gutenburg in 1440. It wasn't until the 19th century when the process was merchandised and made much faster.

Industrial Revolution - This was the beginning of more technology being made to help increase productivity rates and decrease the need for manual labour. The important part of the Industrial revolution was the invention of the printing press. Printing press was invented to be more efficient and faster than making manual copies. First explored a cast iron press but developed into a steam printing press. This was much faster, producing 1100 copies an hour rather than 250 with the iron. It then developed into a rotary press which could print 1 million copies a day.

Industrial Revolution helped to advance the printing press and enhance production.

Has printing reached its climax? More things becoming electronic, starting to use paper less and less. No longer sending letters - email. No longer reading books - ebooks.

William Morris

One of the most influential of modern art movements is 'The arts and crafts movement' established in 1862 by William Morris, in response to the negative social and aesthetic consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

Arts and Crafts Movement

Social/artistic movement of modern art - second half of 19th century. The people in the group, united by a common set of aesthetics that intended to bring back the importance of design and craftsmanship surrounded by the constant increase of industrialisation, they felt was sacrificing quality in pursuit of quantity. Morris believed that art should be both beautiful and functional - He liked the pure and simple beauty of medieval craftsmanship.

Triangulation and Referencing

Comparing the language of three different texts.

Similarities - talking about consumerism, marketing culture. Only doing art for the money and not using their creativity or talent as meaningful activities. Consumerism - narrowing the mind of the designer.

Differences - the newer one flows better. Some are written in more of an optimistic way. 

Task 5 - Initial Presentation

https://issuu.com/jacksymons/docs/initial_power_point.pptx

Feedback

The main feedback from my peers was that I should look at the Industrial Revolution with particular focus on William Morris and his reaction. They also mentioned that i should look at artists who combine both digital and analogue processes. I was suggested a documentary titled 'Beautiful losers' which features Shepard Fairey. People suggested that for my journal I could use the theme unpredictability, which should back up a lot of my main principles.