“for the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever-greater degree, the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility.”
This quote stands out to me because a lot of art in ancient times was about religion and tradition. If you have gone to the MET, you’ll notice the arts in there are in a religious context. For centuries, churches, mosques, temples, and religious leaders were among the few sources of funding for artists. Art was used to glorify the divine. If you have gone to Church, you are very likely to see art on the ceiling or the window because art was expensive back then, and the Church was one of the wealthiest and most influential entities in society.
However, art is no longer limited to religious contexts because society itself has become more diverse and expressive, also more people have money to fund art. Work of Art being designed for reproducibility is great, but that also allows AI to feed. AI art is often trained on copyrighted works without permission, leading to concerns about plagiarism. AI may reproduce compositions or details too closely to the original works without the artist’s consent, so creators don’t get credit.
I also think that when art is made just to be reproduced and sold, people don’t really appreciate the time the artist takes to make the art. When an art can be mass-produced, an artist’s skill, time, and originality may be undervalued, especially when cheap.
