Mechanical
Related: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) - Walter Benjamin - reproduction - machine
Definition
Mechanics (Latin mechanicus, from the Greek mechanikos, "one skilled in machines") is a variety of specialised sciences pertaining to the functions and routine operations of machines, machine-like devices or objects. When preceded by a qualifier, mechanics refers to the study of empirically mechanical functions of a stated quantity or property. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics [Jul 2004]The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935 - Walter Benjamin
'Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.' -- Paul Valéry, “ La conquête de l’ubiquité ” (1928), Pièces sur l'ArtIn principle a work of art has always been reproducible. Man-made artifacts could always be imitated by men. Replicas were made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and, finally, by third parties in the pursuit of gain. Mechanical reproduction of a work of art, however, represents something new. Historically, it advanced intermittently and in leaps at long intervals, but with accelerated intensity. The Greeks knew only two procedures of technically reproducing workms of art: founding and stamping. Bronzes, terra cottas, and coins were the only art works which they could produce in quantity. All others were unique and could not be mechanically reproduced. With the woodcut graphic art became mechanically reproducible for the first time, long before script became reproducible by print. The enormous changes which printing, the mechanical reproduction of writing, has brought about in literature are a familiar story. However, within the phenomenon which we are here examining from the perspective of world history, print is merely a special, though particularly important, case. During the Middle Ages engraving and etching were added to the woodcut; at the beginning of the nineteenth century lithography made its appearance. -- Walter Benjamin
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