Portfolio Task 2 ...Benjamin and Mechanical Reproduction

The Marxist theory states that the superstructure transforms the substructure; the introduction of reproductive technologies has created a situation whereby the understanding of art has been affected. This loss of understanding has been due to the art of the proletariat bushing aside 'outmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery', which are all values of Fascist art, thus bringing about revolutionary art. This new found ability to replicate works of art such as the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design, has created the opportunity to overthrow capitalism. A copy of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' will begin to achieve power of its own through the reproductive technologies used to create it. The evolution of technical reproduction techniques, such as lithography and photography, enabled graphic arts begin to put 'products on the market.' Consequently, the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design to shifted from being available to only a few, to being available to the masses. However, this mass reproduction of the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design resulted in the reproduced artwork lacking 'it's presence in time and space' and 'it's unique existence at the place where it happens to be.' The 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design does not have the same impact nowadays as the morale boosting novelty poster the British Government intended during the war.  It is the authenticity of the original that gives the copy value, however, 'technical reproductions can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself.' The 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design has been reproduced through a variety of different media, although the original was only produced as a poster campaign. 

The reproduction 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design has become 'detached from the domain of tradition' through the original meaning being lost due to the mass application of the design. Although a reproduced 'Keep Calm and Carry On' items may not touch the original design, 'the quality of it's presence is always depreciated.' In having the reproduced 'Keep Calm and Carry On' designs in your home, it 'reactivates the object produced'; the designs are re-contextualised when put into this personal context and no longer have the same meaning as the original intended the design to. This 'shattering of tradition' challenges the single meaning of the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' design, disregarding the 'aura' in order to create an anti-authoritarian state; one of communism.    

Essay Briefing

Lecture5 ...The Gaze and the Media

Portfolio Task 1- Panopticism

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using no less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

To ensure a factory runs continually with a high rate of work and no coalitions, a factory operates using a system in order to ensure each factory worker's behaviour conforms to the desired behaviours of the factory manager. This is based on the Panopticon model of how modern society organises it's knowledge, it's power, it's surveillance of bodies and it's training of bodies; a system of 'permanent registration.' (Foucault, 1977) The form of power imposed by the factory manager enables the factory workers to become 'docile bodies' who are 'self-monitoring', 'self-correcting' and 'obedient.' 'Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility thats assures the automatic functioning of power.' (Foucault, 1977) However, it is the 'discipline' which 'brings into play its power.' (Foucault, 1977) The workers themselves hold internalised mental control rather than having physical control imposed on them by the factory manager; in a conscious state the workers will behave in the way in which they think the factory manager wants them to. This demonstrates 'the penetration of regulation into even the smallest details of everyday life.' (Foucault, 1977) The open plan factory layout is key within this structure and uses the rules of the Panopticon model; thus ensuring that each person can be seen by the factory manager but not know when they will be seen; the power in the factory is 'visible and unverifiable' (Foucault, 1977). The power status between the factory worker and that of the manager ensures the workers are highly productive as they are aware they could be watched at any given time, this is the 'utopia of a perfectly governed city.' (Foucault, 1977) whereby a 'guarantee of order' (Foucault, 1977) emerges. The factory manager is a constant reminder of power to the workers which results in the worker being 'caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearer.' (Foucault, 1977) However, power is not a thing or a capacity people have, it is a relation between different individuals which can only exist when it is being exercised. 'A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation.' (Foucault, 1977)

Seminar2 ..Technology will liberate us

Lecture4 ...Popular Culture

Lecture3 ...Marxism of Design Activism