Publication: Distracción, shock, interrupción: la recepción de Walter Benjamin en las prácticas artísticas contemporáneas
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2016-04-18
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Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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Abstract
Nuestra investigación parte de la intrigante expresión “recepción en la distracción” que Walter Benjamin introduce en todas las versiones del ensayo titulado “La obra de arte en la época de su reproductibilidad técnica” (1935-1939). Con ella define un nuevo modo perceptivo presente en la modernidad. Pese a que antes de este ensayo Benjamin asumiera la percepción distraída en un sentido negativo, a partir de él arroja una nueva luz sobre el término distracción y lo defiende ante sus detractores como una nueva forma de percepción impres- cindible en la época. Benjamin invierte la anterior categorización establecida, que también él sostenía hasta entonces. Aquella que, por una parte, definía la distracción como un efecto narcotizante asociado a la atracción de ciertas manifestaciones artísticas y la que, por otra parte, describía la atención como el elemento que canalizaba un reencuentro con la conciencia y la voluntad. Profundizar en las diferentes versiones del ensayo de Benjamin ha resultado imprescindible para desentrañar el nuevo sentido que la distracción cobra para este autor. Con ese objetivo nos hemos remitido no sólo a sus versiones originales, en alemán y en francés, sino que también hemos ampliado su estudio al conjunto de la obra y correspondencia benjaminiana donde aparece la distracción. A partir de una selección de términos pertenecientes al campo semántico de distracción en versión original, localizamos sus apariciones en la producción benjaminiana. El estudio de estos textos nos ayudó a comprender los distintos sentidos aportados por el autor a este concepto. Otro de los términos claves para Benjamin es el shock. Lo situará dentro de la obra de arte moderno y, en concreto, de la cinematográfica. Para nuestro autor el shock equivale a una apertura en la imagen fílmica que abre paso al espectador a su mundo propio. En ese momento la experiencia del cine combinará dialéctica- mente la proyección de imágenes cinematográficas, como tiempo presente, y las memorias evocadas por el público, como pasado. Para Benjamin, el shock cinematográfico capaz de reintegrar parte de la subjetividad del espectador funciona como una réplica mimética de otro shock presente en los núcleos metropolitanos. Este último –indisociable del nivel técnico de la modernidad, de la concentración de la población en las grandes ciudades y del efecto de las dos guerras mundiales– expone al ciudadano a un continuo impacto que hace mella en su capacidad de afectación y en sus cualidades como agente social...
Our research begins with the intriguing expression “reception in distraction” that was introduced by Walter Benjamin in all the versions of the essay titled “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1935-1940). With it, he defines a new mode of perception that has emerged in modernity. Before writing “The Work of Art” essay, Benjamin posits distracted perception in a negative sense. After this work, he sheds new light on the word ‘distraction’, and defends it from its detractors as a new form of perception indispensable to that age. Benjamin also inverts the categorization previously established, which he once supported. One that defined distraction as the narcotic effect of the lure of certain artistic manifestations, while describing attention as the element that led to a reencounter with consciousness and will. A detailed examination of the different versions of Benjamin’s essay was essential to unraveling the new meaning of distraction for this author. Based on a selection of words belonging to the distraction semantic field in his original writings, we have not only cited the original versions, in German and French, but we have also extended this study to his entire oeuvre, and to the letters where the term distraction appears. Another keyword for Benjamin is shock. He places it in the context of the modern work of art and, particularly, within cinematographic work. According to our author, shock is identified with an opening in the filmic image that gives way to the spectator’s own world. At that moment, the experience of cinema dialectically links the projection of cinematographic images, as the present time, and memories recalled by the audience, as the past. For Benjamin, the cinematographic shock capable of reintegrating part of the subjectivity of the spectator, works as a mimetic replica of another shock present in metropolitan centres. This last idea, which is implicitly related to the technological level or standard of modernity of the time, to the concentration of population in big cities, and to the effect of the two world wars, has a continual impact on citizens that lessens their capacity of being affected, and their functioning as social agents...
Our research begins with the intriguing expression “reception in distraction” that was introduced by Walter Benjamin in all the versions of the essay titled “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1935-1940). With it, he defines a new mode of perception that has emerged in modernity. Before writing “The Work of Art” essay, Benjamin posits distracted perception in a negative sense. After this work, he sheds new light on the word ‘distraction’, and defends it from its detractors as a new form of perception indispensable to that age. Benjamin also inverts the categorization previously established, which he once supported. One that defined distraction as the narcotic effect of the lure of certain artistic manifestations, while describing attention as the element that led to a reencounter with consciousness and will. A detailed examination of the different versions of Benjamin’s essay was essential to unraveling the new meaning of distraction for this author. Based on a selection of words belonging to the distraction semantic field in his original writings, we have not only cited the original versions, in German and French, but we have also extended this study to his entire oeuvre, and to the letters where the term distraction appears. Another keyword for Benjamin is shock. He places it in the context of the modern work of art and, particularly, within cinematographic work. According to our author, shock is identified with an opening in the filmic image that gives way to the spectator’s own world. At that moment, the experience of cinema dialectically links the projection of cinematographic images, as the present time, and memories recalled by the audience, as the past. For Benjamin, the cinematographic shock capable of reintegrating part of the subjectivity of the spectator, works as a mimetic replica of another shock present in metropolitan centres. This last idea, which is implicitly related to the technological level or standard of modernity of the time, to the concentration of population in big cities, and to the effect of the two world wars, has a continual impact on citizens that lessens their capacity of being affected, and their functioning as social agents...
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Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Bellas Artes, Departamento de Historia del Arte III, leída el 21-01-2016