Week 3: Berger Chapter 1 Notes

Chapter 1:

In the book Ways of Seeing written by Berger, Berger talks about what is involved in seeing, and how "[t]he way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe" (8). 

He points out how modern technology in the forms of reproductions, for example photos and videos, have changed the way people see and experience it. 

He insists that this change of reproduction has obscured the real meaning of many images. 

In fact, with today's reproductions, many reproductions can now been seen in many places at once, by different people, even the other people that the painter originally intended his/her art work to be viewed under. However, it used to be only one piece of art; there was no such things as original. 

Although today's reproduction allows the access to art to anybody, Berger argues that this reproduction creates a distinct value between the original and the reproduction. This is because "[w]e never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves" (9). 

He also states that "our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing" (10). Thus, the notion of original, Berger believes, leads to the notion that the reproduction is fake, creating a monetary value of the originals rather than the true value (such as appreciating the art and the experience for viewing it). 


Discussion

Our perspective is constantly changing; the way people in the past looked at the image is different from how we see it.

Vision is more important than dialogue.
- Disagree: Although vision could be universal, that does not mean that dialogue is not important

What is reality?
Art is tangible
Images are another step away from reality (could lose authenticity) but at the same time captures reality