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Fake News, True Lies: Israeli Exhibition Probes Line Between Fact And Fiction (VIDEO)

Haifa Museum mega show brings together over 200 works from 48 top-tier artists, including Damien Hirst

A new exhibition at the Haifa Museum of Art is untangling the thorny yet timely issue of fake news. Titled “Fake News—Fake Truth,” the show brings together more than 200 works by some 48 local and international artists under one roof.

One of the highlights: an installation by world-famous multimedia artist Damien Hirst, which is on display in Israel for the first time. In “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable,” Hirst reportedly spent $65 million to stage a fictional shipwreck and then pretended his sculptures were ancient artifacts found at sea. Alongside the sculptures is an elaborate fake documentary film to complete the faux experience.

“In the past two decades with the rise of the internet and social media, we’ve lost the ability and perhaps even the willingness to understand what the truth is,” exhibition curator Svetlana Reingold told The Media Line. “Damien Hirst comments on how we still believe it is possible to know the truth via institutions. But what he’s saying through his work is that ultimately the truth no longer exists these days.”

Many of the works on show examine the concept of fake news in relation to one of its most closely-associated public personas: US President Donald Trump. In fact, with its eye-catching posters and biting social commentary the “Donald Trump: Poster Boy” section of the exhibit demonstrates how the American leader has become emblematic of a new contemporary political reality.