Van Gogh Alive
When I saw the topic of this week, I immediately thought of the “Van Gogh Alive” exhibition, which has exhibitions in many places around the world, and recently it is exhibited in Sydney. Van Gogh’s artworks will be displayed through advanced media technology that using a lot of projectors to project images on the wall and the floor, which will give the viewer an immersive experience.
As Bolter & Grusin (2000) said, “virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear”. Today’s artworks and paintings can be remediated through the use of VR technology, and the viewer will be immersed in the scene, completely immersed in the creator’s art world.
Benjamin proposed in an article in 1968 that artwork has always been reproducible, and the way of duplication has been changed from manual to digital, we can even download pictures of artwork on the internet now. Benjamin (1968) believes that artwork will be digitally reproduced in the future, however, he also questioned whether the remediation will lack of uniqueness. Although the remediation spans time and space, it lacks the authenticity and value of the original.
Perhaps as Benjamin said, the replica will lack aura. However, the use of digital technology to restore artworks will be still supported by most of people, which would allow more people to experience the charm of artworks and enter the world of artists.
Reference:
Benjamin, W. (1968). The Work of Art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In H. Arendt & H. Zohn (Eds.), Illuminations (pp. 211–244). London: Fontana Press.
Bolter, J. D. (2000). Double Logic of Remediation. In Remediation: Understanding New Media (pp. 2–15). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Derrick Zhao 