“The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility” by Walter Benjamin proposes that the technological reproduction of art depreciates it because it relinquishes its aura, in other words, its essence, its originality, and intrinsic mark. If art cannot be reproduced technologically, its worth is unmeasurable because the occasion of experience grants its effectiveness. 

     In this way, it embodies an aura, a moment when the spectator must capture and absorb the art in a time and space; Benjamin notes, ” In even the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking: the here and now of the work of art – its unique existence in a particular place. It is this unique existence -and nothing else – that bears the mark of the history to which the work has been subject…the here and now of the original underlines the concept of its authenticity”(1053). While Benjamin affirms that art has always been reproducible, his purpose in highlighting technological reproducibility is to emphasize the shift in which art is produced for consumption, “The uniqueness of the work of art is identical to its embeddedness in the context of tradition” (Benjamin 1056). As a basis for ideology, traditionalism sustains an approach of belief and objective that establishes its authority on the fact of custom.  

    Nevertheless, reproducibility alters the traditional or ritualistic character of art. In this regard, Benjamin refers to the movement of l’art pour l’art, or Art for Art’s sake, where art is disjoined from its social, political, or virtuous importance- it is an entirely independent and autonomous organism with value. In this way, Benjamin asserts that in addition to taking away the arts’ aura, technological reproducibility also liberates their social function and representational content.  

    This happens through developmental shifts between what Benjamin describes as cult value and exhibitionist value. Cult value is based on the arts exclusiveness, ” Artistic productions begins with figures in the service of a cult…cult value as such tends today, it would seem, to keep the artwork out of sight…”(Benjamin 1057). The exhibition value then removes exclusivity and the cult from the art, making way for greater public consumption. The system of technological reproduction furthers this by producing art for mass consumption, and although it may lose its aura, it makes art appreciation more accessible, democratizing art.