ABSTRACT
Many living artists are aware of the theoretical debate concerning the relation between art and mechanical reproduction, and some of these artists have made works of art that comment on the matter. 'Eat Dirt Art History' is a wall sculpture about the condition of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. The reproduction processes proliferated - line engraving, mezzotint, lithography, aquatint, carving machines capable of making three-dimensional facsimiles - until we reach the modern age of photo-mechanical and electronic methods. William Ivins believed that the invention of photography was crucial because, for the first time in history, reproduction without an intervening code - without the subjective handwork of the engraver - became possible. To generalize: mass replication via modern manufacturing methods undermines the whole value-structure of the fine arts. During the 1960s Marshall McLuhan's theories about literature, the visual arts and the mass media became fashionable.
