772In principle, a work of art has always been reproducible. Man-made artifacts could always be imitated by men. Replicas were made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and finally by third parties in the pursuit of gain.
8
774`The whole sphere of authenticity is outside technical--and of course, not only technical--reproduciability.
15
775First, process reproduction is more independent of the original than mechanical reproduction.
15
776An analysis of art in the age of mechanical reproduction must do justice to these relationships, for they lead us to an all-important insight: For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.
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777From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the "authentic" print makes no sense. But the 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
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778When the age of mechanical reproduction separated art from its basis in cult, the semblance of its autonomy disappeared forever. The resulting change in the function of art transcended the perspective of the century; for a long time it even escaped that of the 20th century, which experienced the development of the film.
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779Concept: Art is based on perception/location of the observer.
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780The characterization of the film lie not only in the manner in which man presents himself to mechanical equipment but also in the manner in which, by means of this apparatus, man can represent his environment.
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781One of the foremost tasks of art has always been the creation of a demand which could be fully satisfied only later.
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782A man who concentrates before a work of art is absorbed by it. He enters into this work of art the way legend tells of the Chinese painter when he viewed his finished painting. In contrast, the distracted mass absorbs the work of art.
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