Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Connor Graham, Asia Research Institute, and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Skillful forgers can mimic the appearance of genuine works of art very closely: reports of forgeries fetching millions of dollars and being exhibited in reputed museums before their exposure, tell us as much. And yet, discussions about art forgery that span expert and public domains also often emphasize that such mimicking can never be perfect. There is a sense of confidence that, eventually, if probed in the right way, a work will reveal itself for what it truly is. In this talk, related to a book project on the attractions and paradoxes of ‘revealing’ as a way of knowing, I will discuss how autobiographies and other sources relating to art forgery treat the detectability (‘revealability’) of the fake. This discussion will be set against broader questions about the alleged essence of true art and the role of sense perception in ascertaining it.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Catelijne Coopmans is a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, and a Fellow and Director of Studies at Tembusu College at the same university. Much of her research draws on ethnography and discourse analysis to examine the arrangements in and through which (new) forms of visual evidence are used and valued. Recurrent themes include revelation and concealment, expertise, and accountability. Catelijne is a co-editor (with Janet Vertesi, Michael Lynch and Steve Woolgar) of Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited, published with MIT Press in 2014. She is currently working on a book with Brain Rappert, tentatively titled The Revelatory Gesture.

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