Social Implications

The technical reproduction as a new quality for the production and use of images results in a change of sensory perception. Photography, the medium which was described revolutionary in this sense, is the root cause of this change. It releases the work of art (image) from the

“parasitic existence with the ritual”

(Benjamin, Walter 1977) by abolishing the uniqueness and authenticity through a process of reproduction, which allows for an arbitrary number of copies and thereby changes all the social functions for works of art.

They are now available for mass consumption and can also be attended to by the masses due to their technical simplicity.

“Politics replaces ritual as their foundation” (Benjamin, Walter 1977)

; that is, images become part of the social reality and can be used by social groups/individuals and for social communication.
The demolition of the aura and the release of the work of art from its original rituals through reproduction effectively make the image readily available, thus creating a “desire for images”. This “desire for images” by the masses, this desire to take ownership of a reproduction (see, for example, postcard production) assuages the capitalistic awareness industry (through magazines, media, etc.), by making reality available in the form of transient images. But this “reality” is free from rituals, traditions and from the original sensory perception (aura!) and insofar is fiction.

“The orientation of reality towards the masses, and by the masses towards it, is a process of unlimited reach for thinking as well as for viewing” (Benjamin, Walter 1977).

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