John Berger. The art of seeing (№ 396496)

Visual art has always existed in a protected space. Originally this immunity was magical or sacred nature. But, in addition, it was just physical: it was a place - a cave, a building in which (or for which) it was written picture. The experience of art (originally the former experience of the ritual) was separated from the rest of his life just to over the life of the rule. In the future, this isolation has taken on a social character. Art has entered the culture of the ruling class and physically it has been isolated, enclosed in their palaces and homes. Throughout this history the authority of art was inseparable from the authority of the reserved space.
What did the modern means of reproduction of images, so it destroyed the authority of art and removed it (or, rather, seized the images, which are now reproduced) from any part of the reserve. For the first time ever, images of art have become fleeting, omnipresent, intangible, available, worthless, free. They surround us as well as surrounds the language. They came into the stream of life, on which more in themselves have no power.