Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Taking it’s title from Walter Benjamin's still influential essay from 1935, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction plays upon contemporary understandings of authenticity, provenance and the inherent value imposed upon works of art and the relationship between the gallery viewer and the artwork.
A single photocopier is installed at the rear of the gallery space illuminated by two spot lights. A photograph has been placed beneath the photocopier's hood, ready to copy yet concealed from sight. The only means of discovering what lies beneath is to press the photocopier's copy button. Gallery visitors are able to create as many photocopies of the image as they like to take with them upon leaving the space, this mass replication prompting the viewer to re-evaluate the work’s inherent value and their relationship to it. On the final day of the exhibition the photograph and the negative from which the copies have been taken will be destroyed, leaving only photocopied traces.
- address
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237 Elizabeth St, Hobart TAS 7000 - artists
- Drew Pettifer – Artist
