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/r/unexpected_walterbenjamin? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art

• criddell 1y ago
  Well that's intriguing. Can you say more?
  • kjellsbells 1y ago
    If I look at this painting on my phone, what I'm experiencing is radically different to the patron of 1500-whatever looking at the altarpiece. My experience is physically different, for a start, and perhaps more insidiously, other people, in control of my experience, can change my emotional response to it (see "Kuleshov effect"). Imagine seeing the image preceded by some doom scrolling on your phone concerning religious sectarian atrocities, say, vs it being preceded by a story about nuns helping children. You are not engaging with the work, you are engaging with an image of the work. And that image has been edited, curated, and positioned by someone for you. One might also note that even seeing an artwork like this in the modern public galleries that we have is quite odd. Altarpieces invite repeated contemplation by the worshippers in a church, over a long time. Maybe you grow up liking the look of baby jesus but as an adult start to notice and think that Mary is smiling down on you in your troubles. In a gallery, you shuffle along in a sea of people, and get a few seconds to look at the piece before your attention is captured by another piece in the same room.