• Art's Fateful Hour: Benjamin, Heidegger, Art and Politics

    Author(s):
    Christopher Long (see profile)
    Date:
    2006
    Group(s):
    Philosophy
    Subject(s):
    Aesthetics, Philosophy
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Benjamin, Heidegger
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M61C88
    Abstract:
    In 1935 Walter Benjamin wrote that “art’s fateful hour has struck” and that he had “captured its signature” in his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproduction.” Less than a month after these words were written, Martin Heidegger gave a lecture entitled “The Origin of the Work of Art” in Freiburg. These two philosophical reflections on the nature of art, written in the lengthening shadow of European fascism, are brought into relation with one another in this essay in order to draw out the relationship between art and politics in the thinking of Benjamin and Heidegger. By focusing on Benjamin’s conception of the “aura” of the work of art, the article juxtaposes Benjamin’s attempt to locate the critical and emancipatory dimensions of art with Heidegger’s attempt to reinvigorate the aura in order to establish an authentic relation to the origin that might serve as fertile ground for a new vision of politics.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.2307/827790
    Publisher:
    JSTOR
    Pub. Date:
    2006-6-15
    Journal:
    New German Critique
    Issue:
    83
    ISSN:
    0094-033X
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    7 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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