The Challenge of Ubiquity in Digital Culture
CHArt 27th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
|
|
The Challenge of Ubiquity in Digital Culture
|
David Trujillo
The Digital Image: Desensitization and Exploration of 21st Century Society
“The public is an examiner, but an absent-minded one.” In his 1936 essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin discusses the increasing mechanization and commodification of art in the 20th century. Although contemporary society is far removed from Benjamin’s theories of artistic reproduction as far as historical context goes, his postulations and caveats in the realm of art theory were never more relevant than they are in post-modern society. It was Benjamin’s contention that art had lost its aura through mechanical reproduction and the absence of the authentic original. However, Benjamin theorized that society would slowly grow accustomed to a deluge of commercial and artistic images, and that the public would develop a habit of distractedly processing imagery through sub-conscious affections of the optical complex.
Contemporary society is faced with this problem of desensitization, and the battleground upon which fine art will stand or fall is the realm of digitization. Photography was one of the main mediums that Benjamin focused on throughout The Work of Art, and it provides an example of how digitization has both advanced and cheapened art in the 21st century. Digital photography has had a massive impact on how individuals view themselves and the medium of photography in general. Therefore, it was my intention to explore this influence that digitization has had on photography and society, and what role digitization has played on transforming photography as a medium.
My paper explores a brief history of digital photography, the technological context and parameters of the digital medium; differences, similarities, and considerations regarding analog and digital photography, and will end with an examination of the consequences of widespread use of digital photography. Specifically, I will look at the effects that photosharing websites such as Facebook and Flickr have had on the way society views photographs, both aesthetically and psychologically, and how artists have embraced the digitization of the medium. The obstacles and advantages of digital photography present a complex matrix that must be understood to fully grasp the state of not only the fine arts, but also everyday life. Digitization has become a double-edged sword within the photographic medium, and it is my contention that digitization has brought about a photographic revolution that will push the medium to new heights as long as certain practical and theoretical implications are taken into concern.