A Revolutionary Collage | On Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Hannah Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919

I have chosen this Dada photomontage or collage entitled: “Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany” made by Hannah Höch which features the fragmentation of life in Germany during 1919, wherein the ill effects of World War I were prominent: there are a lot of political disagreements, there was war happening within the country, and people are feeling anxious in general. That is the reason why the art piece seems disheveled as it expresses what the artist was experiencing through the use of magazines and newspaper clippings published during that time.

In Walter Benjamin’s work, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” he has expounded on the idea of aura through the use of mechanical reproduction and also put forth the politicization of aesthetics in response to the aestheticization of politics. The dada art movement is an example of the politicization of politics as it tries to criticize and break the barriers formed by those who hold power, asserting dominance over censorship and other cultural ideals.

The chosen art piece takes away the presence of deep contemplation that is present in the art forms of the past, and it’s aura has dissipated as well as an image of the photomontage that it was originally, and by being a collage, the piece is also a reproduction of the events of the time, capable of having its own experience. The title itself is reminiscent of the act that Benjamin was trying to bring about, which is the act of cutting through the political chaos of the time. The piece can actually be cut into 4 quadrants, and in clockwise, the first show political figures, including William II (the last german emperor) that is mostly tampered over by other figures which pronounced the artist’s despise over their rule, the second contains the dadaists and the blacked out map of where women were allowed to vote (since Höch is known to be considered as a “New Woman”--a precursor to the movement of feminism in the country), the third exhibits what “dada” is to express that it is something more than just an art movement, and the last shows masses of people to invoke a sense of reaction--for people to be outraged, be more involved in the happenings within society by challenging the existing system within it.

Höch’s work has encapsulated what Walter Benjamin wanted to create as well, because it is also a form of emancipation from the problems of society, and it readily uses itself as a device for new functions, especially in politics, as it criticizes, and fragments life in order to revolutionize.