Brief

Commodified Authenticity

The project explores the idea that, the more we select the physical evidence of our past, the more we distance ourselves from the possibility to discover an authenticity, which has not yet been commodified.

In the meantime, we begin to realise that the effortless and ever-updating technology, which we gladly welcome into our lives, provides us with everything, except the individuality that we crave for.

Will Spitalfields in the future become an open-air museum, where every element is meticulously recreated to the image of an idealised past, and where authenticity-hungry visitors will be able to purchase their unique artefacts?

References

Pierre Bourdieu: Distinction: A social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, 1979

Jean Baudrillard: Simulacra and Science Fiction, 1991

Joshua Glenn: Fake Authenticity: An Introduction, 2010 (in Hermenaut 5, 22 Dec 2010)

Mark Greif: The Hipster in the Mirror, 2010 (in New York Times 12 Nov 2010)