Fabricating Publics 2021

Fabricating Publics explores how cultural practitioners and institutions perceive their role in the post-truth era by repositioning their work in relation to the notion of the "public". The book addresses the multiple challenges posed for artists, curators and cultural activists by the conditions of post-factuality: Do cultural institutions have the practical means and the ethical authority to fight against the proliferation of "alternative facts" in politics, as well as within all aspects of our lives? What narratives of dissent are cultural practitioners developing, and how do they choose to communicate them? Could new media technologies still be considered as instruments of democratizing culture, or have they been irrevocably associated with 'empty' populism? Do "counter-publics" exist and, if yes, how are they formed? In the end, is "truth" a notion that could be reclaimed through contemporary culture?