‘Fake it till you make it!’

#fineart #performance

How to navigate the thin border between truth and fiction in times of AI generated illusions? To find answers, we will create hyper-realistic cake-sculptures, which will be exhibited at Solaris in Berlin for a participatory tasting group show.

In times when AI generated image cannot be distinguished from reality, what can help us to navigate the thin border between truth and fiction? Taking the iconic phrase ‘Fake it till you make it’ as a starting point, we will look into imitation in context of art and design. Creating replicas, illusions and simulations is essential to art disciplines such as installation, product design or film-props. Yet, art forgeries are considered immoral. Why authenticity plays such a crucial part in value-making and what ‘authentic’ even refers to?

In five sessions, we will take a look at different strategies of story telling. We will discuss money and art forgery, prop making in the film industry, deep fakes and fake news as political tools.

This course is for adventurous minds, who are willing to express their research in unconventional ways. As the end result, we will create a participatory tasting-event, where different aspects of imitation or forgery are going to be materialised in cake-sculptures.

Inspired by the social media phenomenon "Cake or Fake” in which people bake realistic cake replicas of daily objects, in order to test if the real among fakes can be found. Each participant will manifest their research into a bitter-sweet reality by prototyping and baking a cake. Hands-on, we will investigate techniques, from prop-making to design prototyping and apply the knowledge to the “cake or fake” assembly.

The final result will funnel into a group show at Solaris Space Berlin. In the format of an utopian cake shop, visitors are invited to “taste” the research results of the participants.

Schedule

Monday - 11th August

Cake or Fake! First Cake workshop: Learning Basics Techniques

Introduction and theoretical input in to the topics of “Fake”

Tuesday - 12th August

Trip to special effects and prob making studio

Hands-on introduction into prop making and silicone casting

Wednesday - 13th August

Research workshop: Art & Money Forging

Feedback Session for ones own “cake or fake"assembly

Thursday - 14th August

Research workshop: Deep Fakes & Politics

Feedback Session for ones own "cake or fake” assembly

 Friday - 15th August

“Cake of Fake” Part 2: Make final cake based on research

Exhibition set-up & opening and Solaris Space

Knowledge requirements            

- Interest in Material research and experimenting

- The following skills are advantageous but not required: Basic knowledge in silicone forming, prototyping, prop making and 3D Modelling.

Equipment requirements

Laptop to conduct own research and presentation

Gosia Lehmann is a trans-disciplinary artist, researcher, performer, filmmaker and chef, based in Berlin. Using techniques from film and theatre, she explores the interdependent relationship between fact and belief. Staging, re-enacting and performing magic tricks are her tools to investigate the subjectivity of ‘knowing’. Her current research deals with belief systems in the context of ‘Economic Shamanism’ – a condition in capitalism that describes the ambivalent relationship between superstition and algorithms in the world of finances. Gosia studied art and design at Central Saint Martins in London, UdK, Berlin and Tama Art University in Tokyo. She is a guest lecturer at the University of Arts in Berlin.

https://www.gosialehmann.net/

Valerian Blos practice combines tools from the digital realm, mixes them with analog craftsmanship, and creates new materialities. Since 2022 he is assistant professor for the fundamentals of design and new media in visual communication. In his teaching, he negotiates questions of new intermaterialities: what happens when material is no longer tangible? When it disappears or becomes imaginary? Since 2015, he has realised projects for institutions such as TAMA Art University Tokyo, CYENS Cyprus, Berlin Natural History Museum, Fraunhofer Institute, Futurium Berlin, Klassik Stiftung Weimar or Max Planck Institute Jena. Most of those projects in collaboration with Gosia Lehmann.

https://www.valerian-blos.de/