Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Technology and the composer reaction
It's seems like it's an ongoing theme to write these essays using extra words when not needed. I thought the reading was a bit long and hard to follow. It took me a few days to get through but I finally finished it. I liked the enthusiasm the author shows for technology and his proposals to encourage people to exploit it. I think I understand when Pat asks us to compare and contrast this reading to "The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" because I feel Brun's take is completely opposite to Benjamin's. I think Benjamin is opposed and dislikes the fact that much of the art value is lost when using film and other artistic methods. On the other hand, Brun seems a bit frustrated by the lack of use of technology in the arts. Once again, I am impressed by the revolutionary ideas these authors had back in the days.
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I agree that Herbert Brun's take on technology seems to be oppositional to Walter Benjamin's views, though both thinkers speak to societial ailments/wrong thinking and seek, in their specific ways, an evolution in consciousness.
Brun places great respect on artists (whom he terms, composers, though this word does seem especially to point to musicians). He deems the artists as having visionary qualities, in that these people can imagine and create new possibilities and modes of thought, outside of the realm prescribed by the status quo (which is currently deficient).
Because of the growing role that technology plays in the creation of art and music, he imagines that in the future "the difference between technology amd composition will dwindle to an insignificant degree of nuance" (II, paragraph 10). He heralds an era in which technology will be harnessed for the better good, to help us co- create new systems that will help us operate and live to our fullest potential.
Brun's essay is brimming over with the kind of optimism and enthusiasm for technology and creative thought that Paul Miller's "In Through the Out Door" touted. I think it is important to consider the greater social ramifications of what our developments and accomplishments will spawn and can spawn. I think that the call for more co-creation, collaboration, and intelligence in our society is important, but I would distill these ideas down to unity and wisdom, which are old ideas, and do not require any further complications in order to create some fantastical society in "the future"...
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