Walter Benjamin está morto

captions have become obligatory. And it is clear that they have an altogether different character than the title of a painting.

Only later did it come to be recognized as a work of art. In the same way today, by the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value the work of art becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental.

Works of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out; with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work

instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.

the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.

a negative theology in the form of the idea of “pure” art, which not only denied any social function of art but also any categorizing by subject matter

its destructive, cathartic aspect, that is, the liquidation of the traditional value of the cultural heritage.

One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.

The authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible

The whole sphere of authenticity is outside technical – and, of course, not only technical – reproducibility.