Open AccessWalter Benjamin, taiteen toinen tekniikka ja avantgarden kulttuuripolitiikka
Author(s) -
Aleksi Lohtaja,
Taneli Viitahuhta
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
kulttuuripolitiikan tutkimuksen vuosikirja
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2343-290X
DOI - 10.17409/kpt.63289
Subject(s) - avant garde , german , art history , architecture , meaning (existential) , politics , weimar republic , nazism , art , philosophy , epistemology , visual arts , law , linguistics , political science
This article provides a fresh look into Walter Benjamin’s famous essay, “Artwork in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936). Following Benjamin scholar Esther Leslie, we claim that Benjamin’s lesser-known concept of “second technique” is integral for understanding both the meaning of essay as well as mapping the political and artistic aims of the 1920’s avant-garde movements in general. The article is structured around two cases of avant-garde, both of which are central already for Benjamin, but remain somewhat under-theorized in connection to Benjamin. These are the Soviet constructivist film and the idea of glass construction in Weimar-era German architecture.
Keywords: Walter Benjamin, second technique of art, avantgarde, film, architecture