He went back to the basic conditions underlying capitalistic production and through his presentation showed what could be expected of capitalism in the future. Marx directed his efforts in such a way as to give them prognostic value. When Marx undertook his critique of the capitalistic mode of production, this mode was in its infancy. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.” For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful. “Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. Transcribed: by Andy Blunden 1998 proofed and corrected Feb. Source: UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Walter Benjamin (1936) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
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