Michel Foucault describes the politics of truth as a set of rules that determine the ways with which we distinguish true statements from false ones, and affirm the procedures of truth’s very production. Truth, according to Foucault, is thus always politically regulated and mediated. But can we think about the politics of lies? What happens when falsehood takes the place of truth in the process of the production of truth? The films in this chapter explore the functions and malfunctions of optical media and mass storytelling techniques, with a specific emphasis on audiovisual ways of manipulation. Filipa César’s and Louis Henderson’s Sunstone (2018), Sara Magenheimer’s Art and Theft (2017), Johan Grimonprez’s Blue Orchid (2017), and Hito Steyerl’s How Not To Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .Mov File (2013) examine the history and present state of the optical production of truths and alternative facts.
True Fake: Troubling the Real in Artists’ Films is a five-part film series programmed by Lukas Brasiskis. It runs from February 9 through April 20, 2021.
The films in Part Four | Optics of Truth: Media and Alternative Facts will screen for two weeks, from Tuesday, March 23 through Monday, April 5, 2021. Subsequent parts will follow bi-weekly, with new films screened every other Tuesday. A repeat screening of all films in the series from parts one through five will take place on Tuesday, April 20, 2021.