Task 2: Benjamin & Mechanical Reproduction

The 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster was originally designed as a propaganda poster for the second world war.  It should be a rare item in the modern era, existing only through genuine posters from the original era.

Instead, it has been transformed into a replication of the original design, through altered messages in the same style, and reproductions of the poster on mugs and other everyday objects.  It has become extremely kitsch, a selling device that is steadily losing its original perception and role that it once held.

The original poster design itself was mechanically reproduced, and it could be argued that the designs lost their "aura" throughout this process, even back in 1939.  However, the designs stood for a purpose.  It was specifically designed to calm the public in an immediate crisis, a genuine threat from an enemy nation.  Today, that threat no longer stands - on that scale anyway.  The message has been transformed from a calming device in the time of impending war, to a cheap message that aims to be adhered to, reflecting in no way on the original scenario.

"Technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself." Benjamin, Walter (1936)

This quote links directly with these posters, as nothing can be done to preserve the original perceptions and meanings of the original piece.  Much like how photography revolutionised art in the 19th Century, new technologies of the 21st Century have helped to reproduce this once serious, meaningful message into a kitsch mainstream trend.