Le murmure du désert grondait à l’infini.
C’est ici que se perdent les nuages.
The following discussion shall cite Pierre's illustration as an example of digital distribution in order to summarise Walter Benjamin's essay 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (Benjamin, W, 1936). The essay establishes the notion that 'aura;' being the intangible appeal of art.
According to Benjamin, aura 'withers in the age of reproduction'. He goes on to say 'By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence,'by which he means that the sense of authenticity inherent in individual artworks is saturated by their reproduction. Pierre's illustration has been created almost entirely digitally, meaning that there is no original artwork. In addition, the image has been optimised for digital distribution; it is in .gif format. The imagery has not been considered for print distribution, thus the only interaction an audience has with the piece is through screen-based media.
Pierre's .gif is indeed 'designed for reproducibility;' it costs nothing for the viewer to simply copy or bookmark the .gif and view it at their leisure in almost any context. Benjamin suggests that this is a positive aspect of reproduced artwork; 'in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own particular situation, it reactivates the object reproduced,' meaning that the artwork remains personal and fresh to the beholder in whatever context it is viewed in, rather than becoming stale or aged in a gallery format.
Obviously, Benjamin did not predict how screen-based media would eliminate the ageing effects of artwork, as he suggests; 'Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.' Artwork that exists on screen is not subject to the ravages of time, while arguably the screen itself may become outdated and replaced, the art itself goes unchanged.
However it may be noted there is an elitist quality to work existing in a digital environment; it presumes the viewer has access to such equipment, although arguably the vast majority of Pierre's audience exists in the digital environment. To initially view the .gif one must also have a reasonable internet connection which is an additional obstacle to it's viewing.
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