Week 3: Robotics and Art

Technology emerged from Art, so therefore they go hand in hand. In Professor Vesna’s Lecture, I learned about how mass production, robotics, and computers came about. Robots emerged in relation to mass production and assembly lines. Mass production was first introduced with Gutenberg’s creation of the printing press, and later when Ford had aspirations to make cars accessible to everyone. Mass production happened during a time called “The Second Industrial Revolution.” Books were now able to be printed exponentially faster than before, art work was able to be replicated and distributed, cars were able to be mass produced, etc. This was an amazing innovation, but it also had some downsides. Workers were treated terribly in this time.

(The Printing Press)

http://typoretum.co.uk/woodentypes/the-printing-press/

(Henry Ford and others in a car, 1907)

http://todaymade.com/blog/henry-ford-entrepreneur/

A movie that I have seen that takes place during the Industrialization time period is Oliver Twist. In this movie, child labour is displayed through a young boy who worked as a chimney sweeper. This showed how it was to live during a time when things converted from traditional labour to machine-driven, highly productive labour caused by Industrialization.

Oliver Twist (1948)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040662/

With mass production and mechanization, art can lose its authenticity, as Benjamin Walter said in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Benjamin Walter’s has been said to have been affiliated with “Western Marxism.” He wrote that “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: it’s presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (1). I agree with this statement, because the original just has a little something extra than the duplicates. Art has lost it’s “aura” because it can be reproduced.

(Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Can" Mass Produced Artwork)

http://emptyeasel.com/2007/05/22/andy-warhol-mass-produced-art-with-popular-appeal/

The technological advancements in this time period created a major social change. Many things were now machine driven as opposed to traditional labour. Computers and other machines sped up the mechanization process. Computers are ultimately the fusion of mass production and robotics. It was difficult for society to adjust to such a drastic change, but ultimately there were positives and negatives that came along with it.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_10065397_funny-robot-stay-and-hold-notebook.html

Works Cited

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture 2.” Cole UC online. Youtube. 15 Apr 2012. Web. 12 Apr 2016.

Robinson, Andrew. “An A to Z of Theory | Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity.” Ceasefire. 14 Jun 2013. Web. 12 Apr 2016.

Davidson, Niel. “Walter Benjamin and the classical Marxist tradition.” Traditional Socialism. 2 Jan 2009. Web. 12 Apr 2016.

Jin, Julia. “Charles Dickens and his work depicting the Industrial Revolution.” Western Civilization II Guides. 28 Apr 2012. Web. 12 Apr 2016.

History.com. “Industrial Revolution.” History.com. A+E Networks. 2009. Web. 12 Apr 2016.