The Politicizing Art

Relationship of Art and Politics in the Thought of Walter Benjamin

Abstract

Walter  Benjamin  (1892-1940) was  a  German  philosopher  who wrote about capitalism, art, and politics, which are still very important in our time. While developing his idea of art,  Benjamin  does  not  consider  art  as  something  independent  of technique  and  politics.  The  change and transformation of art are directly  related  to  technical  innovations. Modern  technique  has  transformed art. The work of art, which has a religious  content,  has  gained  a  political  content  with  the  emergence  of the modern technique. The work of art, which was unique in an original place in the classical period, has become  available  in  many  places  with the modern copying technique. The loss of the uniqueness of the work  of  art  with  the  copying  technique is, in Benjamin’s words, the loss of the aura of the work of art. Just as a work of art has an aura, politics has an aura. According to Benjamin, the element that causes to form the current  political  aura  is  oppressive  governments.  It  is  the  main  task  of  the new work of art to destroy the aura of oppressive management. Despotic governments use art and technique as a means of realizing their political  ambitions.  They  bless  violence  and  war  by  aestheticizing  politics. The task of the work of art in the modern age is to prevent art from becoming an element of war. Once again, the repressive governments have made politics aesthetic. For Benjamin, what should happen is the politicization of art [...]