The Persistence of Animation

The Work of Animation in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Abstract: In The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Benjamin sets a standard for the purpose of art, which is a demand for revolution concerning the politics of art itself. And it is in this highly influential piece of writing that Benjamin mentions many forms of artwork, yet Benjamin fails to mention one important form of art — animation. It is from here that I will begin to deconstruct Benjamin’s most famous piece of writing by infiltrating his argument and placing animation in the forefront of a discussion concerning the art and politics of animation.

Biographical Statement: Corbett Miteff is an artist and academic from Texas and currently studying for his PhD at Cardiff University, Wales. His topic for research is futuristic visions of religion in science fiction animation. By undertaking an approach to critical theory and applying it to animation, Corbett explores certain assumptions made by academics and artists, all while exploring alternative views of seminal texts.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 12:03 am and is filed under Animation theory, Politics of animation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.