School of Social and Political Science

Description

Authenticity is in crisis. Legacy media are branded liars as conspiracy theorists flirt with the mainstream. AI blurs fact and fiction. Lunch comes as a powder and a paste. A flapping proud handmade Union Jack you’ve just bought off Etsy was quite possibly handmade in China.

How can we relocate authenticity in this era of simulation and simulacra?

Although authenticity can be conceptualised in many ways, authenticity of provenance presents particularly clear material stakes and technical challenges. Is that video of the local SMP in your social media feed showing what they really said, or is it a deep fake? Is the sparkling gem on your finger that cost your spouse a whole month’s salary a diamond or a simulant? Is it really you applying for this credit card, or is it a case of stolen identity? Did you just bid on a Manet or a Ma-not? While such disparate settings necessitate distinct strategies and socio-technical infrastructures for provenance design solutions, we believe there are underlying cross-cutting ideas and currents that can help us locate and address authenticity studies.

Dr Morgan Currie (STIS) and Dr Peaks Krafft (Sociology) are launching a new reading group open to interested faculty, researchers, PhD students, and others to examine authenticity of provenance from an interdisciplinary perspective. We aim to discuss canonical readings on the philosophical, sociological, and technical elements of provenance across a wide range of application settings.

The group will meet monthly and our first reading on 9 April will be Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation".

RSVP: Email to pkrafft@ed.ac.uk