Marx and Aesthetics

mickyates Aesthetics, Art, ContextualResearch, Critical Research Journal, Critical Theory, ICWeek11, Ideas, Informing Contexts, Media Theory, Philosophy Leave a Comment

Karl Marx (1818-1883) has continued to be influential in many schools of philosophy, including aesthetics – even though he did not publish a specific treatise on the subject. Thinkers as different as Jacques Rancière, Roland Barthes,  Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Vilém Flusser were all influenced by Marx’ views. Perhaps Walter Benjamin (1936) was the most directly influenced, who in turn found resonance in …

Walter Benjamin – The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

mickyates Art, Books, ContextualResearch, Critical Research Journal, Critical Theory, ICWeek2, Ideas, Informing Contexts, Media Theory, Philosophy, Photography 8 Comments

Walter Benjamin’s work is refreshing, in his attempt to deal with photography as a unique medium, rather than transpose the traditions of painting and sculpture onto it. The very title of the book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, suggests the challenges and possible limitations of photography as an Art. In this first sense, it is a forward looking …