真的假的

Faking it for Real

假作真时真亦假,无为有处有还无。——曹雪芹从"赝品替代真迹"的需求开始,通过"赝品还是真品"的思索,甚至超越了"赝品同时也是真迹"的辩证,我们最后得出了"赝品即是真品"的观点,此刻提出了也许是最重要的看法:在对真实性的信任与信赖已经彻底被粉碎的时代,引一束微光略微揭示出赝品与真品之间的区别。

The practice of copying,imitation,and repetition holds an esteemed place in China's artistic and cultural lineage,making the production of fakes and forgeries in art a particularly deep area for investigation.Some of the great artistic masterpieces from Chinese tradition—literature,painting,and calligraphy—can only claim tenuous status as‘originals’,while the modern artistic practices of copying and fakes has led to a steady erosion of the dichotomy between authentic and inauthentic,truth and fiction.Amidst the frenzy of copyright infringement and anti-piracy laws and China being dubbed the'imitation nation',how are we to consider issues of forgeries,copies and fakes in the realm of art? In what ways do these contemporary experiments render distinctions between real and fake more clear? More obscure? This essay looks at the ways in which‘fake culture’—made present through daily encounter with fake products,pirated materials,and black markets,in addition to simulated experiences and manufactured environments in the form of tourism,amusement parks,and housing developments—interacts with the practices of contemporary art.I first review the strategies of fakes and copying in early contemporary art in China and follow with more detailed discussions of the different artists in the show,based on the groupings of Fake Goods (object-based practices and the distinction between art and everyday things);Fake Narrative (film and video works that deal with fictional narratives);and Fake Artworld (appropriation,imitation and critiques of the artworld and contemporary art in China).