Week 3 - Robotics + Art

This week, I am focusing on the topic of robotics and art. You cannot think about robotics without also thinking about industrialization because nowadays, robotics is in everything that we do in relation to manufacturing. Robotics is a booming field, especially as we enhance their intelligence. Robotics sort of emerged in relation to assembly lines when people like Henry Ford were interested in manufacturing products more quickly and cheaply. In this case of robots for industrialization purposes, the robots played a key role in the created of a finished product, which is an art piece. Another way robotics and art meshed was through movies like Blade Runner, which “invented” cyborgs, a mesh between human and machine.

Henry Ford's Assembly Line. Robots and people working together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLud5XYfY_c            

http://originalvintagemovieposters.com/blade-runner-original-vintage-film-poster/

           While robots were and still are key to creating many different works of art, robots and mechanical reproduction can make you feel like there is not much aura left to art. Walter Benjamin states that:

Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art . . . [and] A painting has always had an excellent chance to be viewed by one person or by a few. The simultaneous contemplation of paintings by a large public, such developed in the nineteenth century, is an early symptom of the crisis of painting. (Benjamin 3-4).

Benjamin analyzes how mechanical reproduction destroys authenticity in art. He believes that the idea of the original is broken down and the idea of tradition has become less important. Although Benjamin has a valid point that paintings are now accessible to anyone, I disagree with his opinion that this is a bad thing. I do not believe that artwork that artists create for eyes other than their own should be hidden away for only a few people to ever see. I am sure that most artists would be happy to see their artwork being viewed and interpreted by those around and far from them.

An ironic picture of Walter Benjamin
http://www.heathwoodpress.com/on-walter-benjamin-a-critical-life/

Citations:

Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (an Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995)”. Leonardo 28.5 (1995): 381–386. Web.

"Ford Installs First Moving Assembly Line 1913." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt13as.html>.

Sayej, Nadja. "How a Painting Robot Was Given an Artist's Soul." Motherboard. Vice Media LLC, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. 

                   <http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-a-painting-robot-was-given-an-artists-soul>.

"The History of Robots in Movies." Robots in Film. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://robotsinfilm.com/the-history-of-robots-in-movies/>.