The, Peace, Night, Day, Love, Hate

In the piece “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Benjamin tackles the evolution of reproduction coinciding with the introduction advanced technologies; and how art, specifically film, has transformed since this introduction. He asserts that reproduction has now become part of the process in art because of mediums like film and photography, however their reliance on technology creates less authenticity among art forms due to less of the original art still be connected to the piece. While the authenticity starts to decrease, the number of people who are able to individually experience the art increases because of technologies that are able to mass produce art. This creates his ideas of auras, which are the unique connection between the object of art being experienced and the person experiencing it. However, these objects that are desired to be experienced are sometimes only because of what Benjamin refers to as the “ritual” they have, or history. Benjamin claims that technology separates itself from this idea, creating a medium where reproduction is part of the underlying goal for the work to be successful. This success creates the reception Benjamin breaks down into two different values: cult value and exhibition value. Exhibition value he describes as what the art is valued at when in a public setting, however cult value is the value assigned to art that is not available for the general public to see. Technological reproduction now plays a larger part in

In the 19th century, under the suffocating weight of a centuries long tradition in academic art, artists began to break free. Tired of meaningless imitation and decoration, the avant-garde artists pushed for drastic revolutions in aesthetic and social taste. This experimentation rapidly grew less and less controlled, and new technique and new style, which shocked and enraged the critics and public, stopped being experimental and started desiring the side effects of shock and disgust. There is an error in believing the artist is always ahead of his time, will always be understood in the future, and is a well-intentioned progressive, because it ignores the present actions and consequences of modern

The art is unreflective and gestures towards higher thought, but does not achieve it. Morton says this is because Hegel is “simply unable to see the spiritual content of non-European art.” The Classic Phase is a sweet spot in which objects and spirit appear to perfectly coincide in beautiful symmetry. Hegel relates it to Greek art. It collapses when humans begin to know too much. We arrive at forms that communicate despite the artist or begin having awareness of inner infinitude. The Classical Phase collapses into the Romantic Phase, in which, the art’s content outstrips its substance and infinite inner space is opened up. Hegel says this is the end of art, but Morton sees it as the beginning. When the nonhuman, objects, begin to speak for themselves. Consciousness, no longer a void, but a “substance”, is the great discovery of the Romantic Phase. Hegel’s theory ends at phase three, Morton adds phase four, the Asymmetric Phase, as an amendment to Hegel’s theory. In this phase, art’s content surpasses its substance through increasing knowledge about reality through science, but the substance of art can also surpass the content. Morton calls this revenge of the objects. Morton’s Theory contains many parallels to Hegel’s. Phase one, Symbolic, is similar in that objects have enormous power and clarity. However

Impressionist painting remains a significantly attractive period in the history of modern art and deemed by many as the top appreciated by the public. …Sequence of exhibitions, plentiful literary texts and record gross sales yield more of an indication of today's extraordinary resonance of pieces by Impressionist painters, a number of which are imprinted on our creative conscience

It is an inherent tendency of human beings to shy away from boundaries enforced upon us, while we still desire to push beyond the limit. Boundaries are, after all, set by humans. Therefore, do we not have the upmost right and ability to stretch those borders until they collide and unite in complex harmony? Creativity, which includes art, requires a certain amount of these collisions to grow and move forward. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Paolozzi, Klein, and Cage blur the boundaries between art and life by using objects as art, life as still art, and life as moving and sound filled art.

Modernism supports the notion of scientific progress as a series of linear, cumulative steps toward the ideals of complete knowledge and human perfection (Hatch, 2006). The author asserts that to take a modernist perspective, one must commit to limiting what is known as knowledge to what one can know though the five senses. On the other hand, SI extends the definition of empirical reality to include forms of experience that lie outside the reach of the five senses, as do emotions and intuition and as a result of this subjectivity, their findings cannot be easily replicated by others (Hatch, 2006).

‘[Surrealist] artists were not overly concerned with aesthetic issues involving line and colour, but instead felt compelled to create what Surrealists thought of as the “real”.’ The movements themselves aimed to shock the public as they did not adhere to traditional artistic conventions. Not only was the abstract nature of the artwork shocking, but the meanings behind it.

Reaction essay on movie “Shadow Magic” and article “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin

150). Defined by Oxford as a “literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue”, Prof. John Lye suggests that the vestiges of ‘Impressionism’ in modernist literature contributed significantly to an intimate presentation of “the texture or process of structure of knowing and perceiving” (Lye, 1997). Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity renounced the concept of “universal time” and theorised that experience is both a subjective and an intrapersonal experience. Einstein’s concept of relativity coincided with the Modernist narrative, and helped attribute to new and abundant artistic forms expressed in this new locus of subjectivity (“Modernism Characteristics”,

Abstract Expressionistic movement followed one of the gruesome moments in modern history. The aftermath of World War II created a traumatised society that was in need of sense of purpose and morality being restored into their lives. This created an art movement that became a means of finding a “sense of salvation” (Sobel,2014) in a “catastrophic landscape” (Sobel, 2014). Many artists emerging from this era were fearfully aware of the irrationality and vulnerability of humans and, as a result, wanted to express their concerns in an untapped art market. Interestingly enough, elements of surrealism leaked into abstract expressionism. Surrealists opened up a new way of creating art by emphasising on working with the subconscious rather than the conscience mind. More specifically psychic automatism is evidence of the influence surrealism had on abstract expressionism. This allowed for abstract expressionist to value “spontaneity and improvisation” (Paul, 2014) and the process of the work became more important than the work itself.

Art is the best way humans can express their thoughts and realities. Many people do not see art in a linear fashion; whether a painting is from the 1800s or the 1900s many people would consider them the same. Art has gone through many changes since its conception many millennia ago. Due to this, one cannot scrutinize all of the art movements in the same fashion. Two of art’s largest movements, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, are commonly lumped together in the same category. Although these movements are very similar in name, they have distinct characteristics that set them apart. However, they also have some aspects in common.

Post-modernism is a style in the arts, philosophy and criticism starting in the late 20th century. This style stands for a withdrawal from modernism and its notions of grand theories and ideologies. According to Roy Ascott, post-modernism’s focus is not form but rather behavior, not a one-way information model of sending and receiving a message. Post-modernism behaves more similarly to an interrogation of probabilities by the viewer. The artwork stand between two behaviors, the artist and the observer resulting in the generation of multiple meanings; however, the responsibility for constructing meaning belongs to the viewer. Art cannot originate in the artwork by itself, nor in the activity of the artist alone. This can best be understood as a system of probabilities that are highly entropic, in which the viewer becomes actively involved. Not necessarily in an act of closure like deciphering a concrete message from the artist which in itself is a passive process, but rather by questioning and interacting with the artwork to produce meaning. Post-modernism allows for a sort of transaction to take place between artist and viewer are both, as Umberto Eco would say, “gambling on the possibility of semiosis.”

Bruno’s death served as indispensable sacrifice for modern day cosmology and our scientific community. It ultimately marked the beginning of humanity’s questioning of whether our world is actually what tradition tells us. Whether if it was Einstein questioning Newton’s long held laws of motions or Bohr questioning Einstein’s beliefs on quantum mechanics, history has repeatedly shown that curiosity about what we do not know is integral towards the advancement of science. In Bruno’s

“Albert Einstein’s scientific theories accelerated the development of the world like never before and he gave scientists the tools to mold almost every observable aspect of life as we live today. From nuclear energy production to synchronization of GPS satellites to computers to many everyday consumer products; all can be traced or linked to Einstein’s work.” (Ten Major Accomplishments of Albert Einstein)

In 1905, during a single year, Einstein produced a series of three consecutive papers. These are among the most important in twentieth-century physics, and perhaps in all of the recorded history of science for they revolutionized the way scientists look at the nature of space, time, and matter. (Discovering World History) The series of three papers dealt with the nature of particle movement known as Brownian motion, the quantum nature of electromagnetic radiation as demonstrated by the photoelectric effect, and the special theory of