The differences between Davis and Benjamin on the thought of electronic media are striking. Each writer has a different take on the aura of an art piece created in technological form. Davis praises electronic computers for their ability to improve, preserve, and make accessible ‘original’ masterpieces while Benjamin’s view is pessimistic and contends that taking a historic art piece from its time will strip it of its unique existence and its aura. If duplicated, the work is detached and mechanized. Davis, on the other hand, asserts that this uniqueness is preserved because not only does one see the beauty of the original, but with today’s technology the beauty can be enhanced and recreated into a newer version that also moves and inspirers. Moreover, he points out that Elaine Sturtevant improved on Warhol’s original, all because of the possibility of electronic art. Yet, while they disagree on the aura that electronic reproductions produce, they both realize electronic media as a profound change in artistic process that allows originals to not only be readily accessible but manipulated and recreated by anyone who wishes to revise the original.
