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Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction Benjamin wrote one of the most often cited works in new media The essay was written thinking mainly about film, but the ideas apply to the rest of new media as well. The \"Cliff\'s Notes for dummies\" version of the essay: Before, reproduction of a work of art was imitation. Now reproduction goes beyond 1-1 imitation so much that it is important to think about what it means. When you can have hundreds of lithograph reproductions of almost the same quality of the original, where is the value in the original? And what about those works that are made to be reproduced? (Such as film) Authenticity is then important and it is measured in space and time. However the reproduction is \"freer\" to be placed in situations in which the original cannot be placed. Another
value of the original is tradition. The reproduction referrs the
viewer to the original.
However all this originality came into crisis with works of art made with the
new traditions of mechanical production, as works of art can be made
to be reproduced. As such then art was released from tradition. And
art for art\'s sake was born. It no longer talks about social functions,
it talks about itself. What is interesting is that the loss of ritual
and the artwork for reproduction also makes it political.
The value of art is to be measured in terms of cult value or it\'s exhibition
value.
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