ABSTRACT
The notion of authentic alliances opens a path leading to new directions for conservators, by suggesting ways for dealing with forms of visible structures that exist everywhere. Goodman's writing on a systematic general analysis of modes of reference and of types of symbol systems has been particularly influential to determining authenticity. Net art is a process, where different properties of the work, materiality, authorship and temporality are in alliance with each other. Benjamin connected authenticity to the 'aura' of the artwork. An artwork's authenticity is not found in its singularity, but rather is identified in the ongoing dialogue between the open-ended work and its multiple producers. Like Goodman, Benjamin distinguished between an original and a reproduction, but whereas Goodman was mainly interested in distinguishing a forgery from an original, Benjamin was more focused on whether the invention of photography has transformed the nature of art.
