In the Western tradition we are used to think of art works, once they have been made public, as finished and thus stable. Ideally from then on, they are preserved for eternity in specialized institutions like museums. With the growing importance of digital cultures and the increasing influence of non-western cultural traditions, these assumptions are called into question. Increasingly, the art work is regarded as unfinished and considered only temporarily fixed, changing in versions, adaptable to contexts and usages. It is, at the same time, a finished product and raw material. This poses serious challenges to the theory and practice of cultural production. Does the concept of the art work need an update?

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