Research-based art has become one of the defining genres of the century. Taking the collective Forensic Architecture as a case study, Emily Watlington, senior editor at Art in America, argues against what she sees as the dangerous slippage between artistic research and alternative facts. Turning to the work of Walid Raad, she nonetheless argues for the importance of possible other realities. Watlington describes Raad’s work as a kind of “surrealism for the information age,” and persuasively argues that this is distinct from fake news. The differences in Watlington’s two case studies are somewhat subtle, but the stakes of the distinctions are profound. As faith in facts declines rapidly and fascism and autocracy are on the rise, it is clear that shared realities are essential to democracy’s future. And yet, imagining alternatives to our present is as important as ever. What’s an image maker to do now that seeing has so little to do with believing?
