Associated Theories
Focault’s Fifth Principle in “Of Other Spaces” rings true in punk culture, especially because it presents a sort of ingroup/outgroup acceptance. Those who call themselves punk and create punk art are unlike those who conform. There is a degree of exclusiveness, something to call their own.
The use of positivism, which relies on evidence to reveal truth, however the use of writing and drawing over photographs reflects the punk aesthetic's absurdist culture, where there is no point of photography or the ability to rely on it for truth, unless truth is meant to expose some "other" like politics or society.
Regarding Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Production" punk aesthetic, especially in paper mediums like flyers, zines, and advertisements, completely agree with Benjamin's theory, that art and its value is heavily dictated through the circumstances, presence, and authenticity of an item.
When dealing with flyers and advertisements as memorabilia, there were few printed which rose the value of the item to collectors. The creation of the internet and more widely distributed magazines have caused zines to go into hiding, existing in even smaller circles to maintain that same authenticity that utilizes the punk aesthetic values.
The aura of a tangible zine is so very different than the aura of an online zine. The availability and sales of a zine nowadays have changed so that so many are used to buying the reciprocated copy rather than ever looking for the original. In punk aesthetic, mechanical replication seems to have been looked down upon because it takes low form art and makes it almost too reproducible, aligning it with more kitch values than punk values.
The use of positivism, which relies on evidence to reveal truth, however the use of writing and drawing over photographs reflects the punk aesthetic's absurdist culture, where there is no point of photography or the ability to rely on it for truth, unless truth is meant to expose some "other" like politics or society.
Regarding Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Production" punk aesthetic, especially in paper mediums like flyers, zines, and advertisements, completely agree with Benjamin's theory, that art and its value is heavily dictated through the circumstances, presence, and authenticity of an item.
When dealing with flyers and advertisements as memorabilia, there were few printed which rose the value of the item to collectors. The creation of the internet and more widely distributed magazines have caused zines to go into hiding, existing in even smaller circles to maintain that same authenticity that utilizes the punk aesthetic values.
The aura of a tangible zine is so very different than the aura of an online zine. The availability and sales of a zine nowadays have changed so that so many are used to buying the reciprocated copy rather than ever looking for the original. In punk aesthetic, mechanical replication seems to have been looked down upon because it takes low form art and makes it almost too reproducible, aligning it with more kitch values than punk values.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction .” Illuminations, 2011, web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/benjamin.pdf.