In class writing 5 / interpretive project 1

Eco’s essay, Thomas Hirschhorn’s Cavemanman, and the Carnegie International: Life On Mars exhibit can be directly correlated in their exploration into the intentionality of the artist to anticipate and incorporate the viewers’ expectations, be they domestic and plausible or historic and relatable, in answering the inquiry into the realness or fakeness of an image. Eco’s reference to Disneyland as the absolute fake, Hirschhorn’s use of large scale reproductions of books, and the piece Unknown Forces all create a distance between the viewer and the piece in that they establish that these things are not real and therefore, should not be interpreted as real.
1. estabilishing fakeness // establishing replication
a. Contemporary art
i. Representational
1. Sensationalizing
a. Historical reconstruction // religious celebration (p13) > REAL
b. Contemporary art sensationalizing the concept that his is FAKE > NOT REPRESENTATIONAL
c. Theatrical representation // violence of info (16)
ii. Not trying to be “real”
1. Falsehood has justifications (17)
b. Replication
i. “sense of fullness” > “more and more”
1. determination to represent the real as best as possible
a. comes with intention to REPRODUCE
ii. cavemanman
1. there’s always a distance between viewer/artist/piece because this is not real > but relatable.
a. Consumerist society is relatable therefore able to be represented
2. Anticipate viewer’s understanding that this is not real.
a. Not representational
i. Not created in realist or naturalist style
b. Expectation allows artist to manipulate what viewer sees, their interaction.
c. Unknown Froces > video of real people. Doing something real. But the situation is not real. The viewer knows that this is not documentary.
i. Established understanding of fakeness
1. Relateable because real people. But not learning or relating to
d. “Actually in these museums the idea of the ‘multiple’ is perfect (39)
i. fetishistic desire for original forgotten when establish right away that this is fake
1. this makes the copy perfect