Fake for Real: A history of forgery and falsification

0 reviews | Write a review

Authors: Andrea Mork (ed.)
Product Code: 319
Availability: In Stock

43.00лв

Qty:

Add to Wish List Add to Comparison

Tags:

Description Specification Reviews (0)

Fake for Real: A history of forgery and falsification. Temporary exhibition catalogue
Language: English. Category: Counterfeits

The Ancient Greeks, the myth goes, used a wooden horse to deceive their enemies and breach the walls of Troy. Throughout the centuries – in war, politics, the economy and other spheres of human activity – forgery and deceit were used to advance their creators’ goals. Fake for Real: A History of Forgery and Falsification, is an exhibition that explored these themes for more than a year at the House of European History, its Brussels base. Now, it is on a tour around Europe, visiting cities such as Thessaloniki, Sofia, Budapest, Bucharest, Gdansk and Kristianstad.

The exhibition presents falsifications throughout history. It describes the specific historical circumstances that explain their appearance, the interests and motives behind them and the impact they had. It also demonstrates how they were ultimately exposed. Set chronologically across six big themes, Fake for Real displays more than 100 artefacts from the House of European History collection. It also includes films and interactive games.

Each case study tells a story of falsification and deceit: from the alleged Donation of Constantine, manipulated biographies of medieval Christian saints, to forged works of art and counterfeit consumer goods. The exhibition presents a wide range of different objects, art works, images, and historically important documents, maps featuring imaginary territories, treatises on witchcraft and false evidence used to accuse a French artillery officer of espionage — the story that went down in history as the Dreyfus Affair. The final section of the exhibition, titled ‘Era of Post Truth?’ is an interactive space with games and videos, where visitors can become fact-checkers, decide on what gets published or censored and play around with an innovative ‘filter bubble’ to explore how social media work. The exhibition ends with an interactive timeline about Russian disinformation and an immersive artistic installation about the same topic in the context of the current war. All exhibits demonstrate something poignant and unique about how we want to understand the world or deliberately misrepresent it.

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION

Preamble

Foreword

Preface

Why should society dispute historical concepts of truth and fake?

Curatorial introduction to the exhibition

Educational aspects of the exhibition

PART ONE. THE EXHIBITION NARRATIVE

RULING AND PRAYING 33

Case Study 1. Condemned to be forgotten

Case Study 2. The Donation of Constantine

Case Study 3. Forging relics

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD

Case Study 4. Invented lands and creatures

Case Study 5. Freedom to print

Case Study 6. Forging science: Piltdown Man

UNITING AND DIVIDING

Case Study 7. Forging history: patriotic fakes

Case Study 8. Conspiracy theories: the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Case Study 9. Forging evidence: the Dreyfus Affair

FIGHTING WAR

Case Study 10. Lifesaving forgeries

Case Study 11. Deceiving the enemy: operation Bodyguard

Case Study 12. Denying crime

FAKE AND FORTUNE

Case Study 13. Han van Meegeren, a master of the art of forgery

Case Study 14. Faking brands

Case Study 15. Counterfeit currency

Case Study 16. The era of post-truth?

PART TWO. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON FORGERIES IN HISTORY

The medieval notion of truth. The trustworthiness of relics

‘Liars should have good memories’. What we talk about when we talk about forgery (and its debunking)

Fakes, patriotic and otherwise. The past as smoke and mirrors

Why have fakes become crimes?

A fake conquers the world. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Fake brands. The Romantic basis of their conceptualisation

How big is the disinformation challenge facing us?

EPILOGUE

Exhibition Team

Editorial Team

House of European History Team

Lenders

Image Credits

Details
Publisher	Publications Office of the European Union
Language	English
Pages	204
Illustrations	color figures
Binding	paperback
ISBN	978-92-846-5038-5
Creation date	2020
Size	21 х 29 cm