In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

The line is associated with Andy Warhol’s mid-1960s commentary on mass media, celebrity culture, and the reproducibility of images—central concerns of Pop Art. It circulated in connection with Warhol’s New York scene (The Factory) and his fascination with how television, magazines, and advertising manufacture public attention. The remark is often dated to 1968 and is frequently linked to Warhol’s involvement with the exhibition catalogue for the Moderna Museet (Stockholm) show, where a version of the phrase appeared in print. Over time it became a shorthand summary of Warhol’s view that modern fame is widely distributed but fleeting, produced by media cycles rather than lasting achievement.

Warhol’s aphorism suggests that modern celebrity is less a rare honor than a mass-produced commodity: media systems can elevate almost anyone, but only briefly. The “15 minutes” implies a short attention span and a culture driven by novelty, where recognition is quickly granted and quickly withdrawn. The quote also carries an ambivalence typical of Warhol—both a cool observation and a subtle critique. It anticipates later realities of viral notoriety and platform-driven visibility, where fame can be detached from traditional markers of accomplishment and instead hinge on circulation, spectacle, and repetition.

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