Street art raises problems for justifications of the museum that appeal to the purported uniqueness and power of the works it contains. Street art is largely ephemeral art that is usually cheap to make, free to experience, and owned and overseen by no one (or, rather, everyone). Museums often contain art that is extremely expensive (to make and own), costly to experience, and overseen by an elite few. One reason for visiting a museum, and a reason to maintain the expansive, expensive, and exhausting network of artworld roles that sustain them, is that what is in the museum is supposedly sufficiently different from what is outside it- it is more powerful, full of complex meaning, more beautiful, challenging, and rewarding than the everyday.
















