Introduction : Bodily performance : on aura and reproducibility

Probably the most influential article in cultural theory in the 20th century was Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility (2002). His argument was that in its traditional setting, where it was often associated with cult and ritual, art had an aura. However, with the development of technology art becomes reproducible, is removed from its cultic setting and begins to lose its aura. The uniqueness and authenticity of a work of art is a function of its embeddedness in the social context of its stable tradition. The history of art can be seen as an endless contradiction between its cultic value and its exhibition value. Benjamin was particularly interested in the impact of film and photography on the authenticity and aura of art, which made art available to the masses. In the secular and democratic environment of modern society, art does not function in its ritual or cultic context, and with modern technology it can be effortlessly reproduced. The charismatic status of the artist and art is converted slowly but inevitably into celebrity, where branding replaces aura. Nike as a brand guarantees the reliability of the brand rather than the authenticity of a unique product.