Fact

The current cluster (SITUATION #80 to #89 until 17 September 2017) looks at the relationship of photography and facts. “Fake news“ and “alternative facts” have been dominating the headlines recently, often considered as manifestations of a “post-truth age” in which the distinction between fact and fiction, between an objective truth and subjective constructions of reality is said to become increasingly problematic. Photography plays a crucial role in this discussion, as a medium whose indexical quality and visual accuracy have been closely linked to claims of truth and objectivity throughout its history. All the while this specific relationship to reality has nurtured many instances – in art, mass media or politics – in which photographs were strategically (mis)appropriated for the production of effects of truth and evidence. What are we to make of this claim for the factual in a time when images and information circulate uncontrollably across digital networks and social media platforms, reproduced, manipulated and put in new contexts in an ever-increasing pace?

From 13 to 18 June 2017, SITUATIONS/Fact expanded to LISTE Art Fair Basel (SITUATION #83 to #87).

Kindly supported by Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.