Book, Aesthetics and sociology of art[LS]

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. “With photography, the hand frees itself for the first time, in the process of reproducing images, from important artistic tasks that from then on began to fall exclusively to the eyes that see through the lens.” Walter Benjamin applies himself to the meaning of this advent and highlights the dialectical irony, calling into question the foundations of the work of art by enabling its mass reproduction – which reinforces its market character. The photographic process goes beyond the commercial scope and gains an artistic content. The vice of ocularity inherited from the Greeks now has a technical condition. Benjamin illuminates the inflection point, the beginning of the new upward curve. Today we can see what results. At home, at work, at school, on the street, everywhere, eyes fixed on screens, small screens, big screens. The preponderance of vision over the other senses, increased by the advancement of information technology, has reached paroxysm, worrying parents and educators. Subtlety replaces materiality; experience is bypassed by records and simulations. The relevance of Benjaminian thought is evident; the trail surpasses the aura; reproduction is preferred over reality, like a grandmother who responds to compliments given to the baby in the stroller: “You didn’t see anything, look here!” and displays a photo of the same child on her cell phone. Beatriz Magalhães