Joselit references Walter Benjamin's concept of the "aura," which refers to the unique, authentic presence of an artwork. With digital technology, the aura of an artwork can be easily reproduced and disseminated online, challenging the traditional notion of art's uniqueness and value.
Joselit, David. After Art . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. after art david joselit pdf
It is this disconnect that After Art confronts. Joselit argues that we can no longer afford to focus solely on the production of original, discrete artworks by a singular artist genius. Instead, he proposes a radical recentering: we must look at what happens after art is made, when it enters into complex circuits of circulation, replication, and reformatting. Joselit references Walter Benjamin's concept of the "aura,"
: Modern artists function as "human search engines," capturing and reformatting existing content rather than creating from scratch. After Art