Replication
From Metapedia
Contents |
Defining "Replication"
Simply put, replication is a reproduction or copy; that which is not the original, but a copy of the original. Replication can also be the process by which an object is "copied, mimicked, or reproduced."[1] This second definition is especially interesting in its relationship to hybridity and cultural complexity as it speaks to how replication and reproduction can work toward the creation hybrid forms of objects (and ideas, processes, people, places, etc.).
Replication in Theory
The theoretical concept of replication was developed by Walter Benjamin in his seminal work "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1936)[2].
Benjamin discusses replication in the terms of its role in diminishing authenticity in artworks through their mass reproduction and distribution. He is working within the Marxist tradition where his determinations are based on a capitalist/consumer based mode of production. Replication of works is a standard of this mode of production and Benjamin admits that artistic works have in many ways been reproducible beginning with lithography and wood block printing. In capitalist society this has been advanced moving toward the printing press and specifically photography. Benjamin describes the effects of replication in terms of the aura of an original and the loss of this aura due to mass reproductions of the work. Benjamin sees replications as inauthentic -- "The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being embedded in the fabric of tradition" -- removed from tradition and context the aura is lost.
Jean Baudrillard in his work "Simulacra and Simulations" (1988)[3] takes the concept of replication one step further by asserting that after such successions of reproduction that a 'real' ceases to exist and that the notion of the 'real' or authentic original is actually a reproduction of a reproduction that is posing as the 'real' making it hyperreal. In the case of the hyperreal replications are no longer reflections of an authentic original with an aura, but they are only operational (true simulacrum). The hyperreal serves the ideal purposes of the authentic object.
While Theodor Adorno did not speak much directly about replication, he was greatly concered with the role of mimesis in art.[4] (1). Mimesis is much like replication where one form mimicks another, however Adorno also sees mimesis sees as a material representation or replication of itself (perhaps an idea or a moment not to mention the semiotic representation of the relationship between a sign and it's signifier). Adorno's concept of mimesis is much like our second definition of Replication above:
"[mimesis] might also refer to the activity of a subject which models itself according to a given prototype." (2)
Paul Miller aka. DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid brings the theoretical concept of replication into contemporary society by historicizing it to the days of Gould, Emerson, and Edison, and acknowledging that today's aesthetic of imitation lies in these roots. Miller adds one additional level to replication: the degree to which this paradigm exists in today's culture, and that youth culture is entirely based on replication's derivative "reply", a concept that is much less derogatory than the theoretical history of replication brought on by Benjamin, et. al.
Replication in (High) Art
The American pop art movement, specifically the work of Andy Warhol, focused heavily on replication as a defining marker. Works such as Diamond Dust Shoes and the Campbell's Soup Can series exemplify Warhol's commitment to replication of an image. In later works, the use of silk screen technology even mechanized the process, though each print was unique -- a way to maintain the high art nature of the works. Warhol himself even fancied himself replicable through the use of an impersonator named Allen Midgette.
Although many famous works of high art have been mechanically reproduced and brought into the mainstream, replication of earlier works of high art in new artistic ways has allowed Warhol and others to recreate and iconize such works as DaVinci's "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper."
Other artists in the Pop Art movement also relied heavily on replication as a means of artistic production. Roy Lichtenstein created large scale paintings that replicated the style of the comic strip, but altering the sequential nature of the panels by exhibiting single panels of work. Jasper John's replicated the symbol of the American Flag in his work Flag (1954-55). Even prior to the American Pop Art movement, artists such as René Magritte (part of the surrealist movement) played with the idea of replication through works like Golconde where images of the "faceless businessman" were reinforced by their repetition.
Replication in (Low) Popular Culture
Beginning in the 1980s, the art of replication seems to enter the mainstream with the computer age. The film industry adopted replication in the sci-fi fantasy world with the notion of cyborgs, including the 1982 Blade Runner whose cyborg inhabitants were even called replicants. Other more recent films and television programs continue this theme of human replication, such as I, Robot, the conception of "Cylons" in the popular Sci-Fi channel program Battlestar Galactica and the crossover Chris Cunningham Bjork video All is Full of Love which was exhibited at the 2002 Venice Biennale as a work of contemporary art. Cyborg replication is also present in Japanese Anime, particularly in Ghost in the Shell. (See also a final project on Ghost in the Shell). The representation of cyborgs or cyber-humans is a a major way that replication is imagined in science-fiction and the futuristic vision of popular culture.
Post-digital mixing also has introduced increased replication in popular music, especially in electronic music (see Dora's Entry from Week 11). Early electronic music focused on the replication of Classical Music works through the aid of machines, specifically the Moog Synthesizer. The majority of contemporary popular and classical music utilizes replication through mixing and sampling such genres as hip-hop and rap, varying styles of electronica, and even contemporary pop music.
Notes
- The commentary from which these ideas arose (http://www.wbenjamin.org/mimesis.html) looks at Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, trans. C. Lenhardt (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984) as the primary text.
- This quote was taken from the same link as above where it was quoted from Michael Cahn, "Subversive Mimesis: Theodore W. Adorno and the modern impasse of critique," Mimesis in Contemporary Theory: An Interdisciplinary Approach, ed. Mihai Spariosu, Vol. I (Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company, 1984), 38.
--Karen
