Mechanical Reproducibility, Art and Politics in Walter Benjamin’s Philosophy

Abstract

In this paper I examine the question of technical reproducibility, art and politics in Walter Benjamin´s philosophy, focusing in the relationship between base and superstructure, and the analyses of mass culture. I proceed to the revision of the problematic relationship base and superstructure as a framework for the study of culture, in an attempt to show that, instead of thinking it causally, Benjamin takes up the idea of "mediation systems", and at the same time, supports the notion of expression (Ausdruck). In this way I pretend to clarify the specificity of Benjamin´s position both in relation to the Marxist tradition as to the Frankfurt School –and particularly one of its greatest exponents Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno. In addition, I try to rethink Benjamin´s approach to the mass culture –not as a simply celebratory o condemnatory approach–, and the impact of the mechanical reproducibility in art, as well as their political potential based on the perceptual and cognitive changes that it enabled.