Digital Art and the Question of whether its reproduction diminishes its value

First of all, we should start with discussing what digital art is. When most people think of digital art they think of drawings done on a computer or another digital medium. However, there are many more forms of digital art. For instance, video games, hypertext and short films are all forms of digital art.

Unlike traditional art forms such as painting, digital art is easy to reproduce. While traditional art forms would have needed to be reproduced by hand, a long process where there will always be subtle differences from the original, it is generally trivial to copy digital art.

In his essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin argues that being able to easily replicate works of art diminishes their value. This is because the copy lacks the unique nature of the original (3). The original is depreciated by being copied as it also loses its uniqueness (4).

This is an opinion with which I disagree. In my opinion, the reproduction of art makes it accessible not only to the elite but to the masses. In old times such as the medieval era art was commissioned by the rich and powerful, a privilege which the poor did not have. I do not believe that anything should be reserved for only the elite classes. Art has often been used as a means of communication to the masses in the modern era, for example in cartoons and comic strips in newspaper.

One form of art which is important to look upon is writing. Up until relatively recently in terms of human history the majority of people were illiterate. The invention of the printing press in 1440 allowed for much easier reproduction of written texts. This in turn allowed for the masses to become more educated and think for themselves. It was around this time that schisms in the church began to appear as people were able to read the bible by themselves rather than having it read to them. This meant that ordinary people could interpret the text on their own rather than a religious figure morphing it into whatever message they wanted.

In summary, the increasingly simple reproduction of art does not diminish its value, but rather allows art to be available to a wider audience. This means that ordinary people have the power to interpret art as they will, rather than having a member of the elite class interpret it for them, carrying their own message. This has led to increased freedom of the working class.

Works Cited:

Benjamin, W. (1969 [1936]). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Illuminations. Ed. H. Arendt. New York, 217-251.