Throughout history, masterful fakers have exploited the trust of the innocent with convincing forgeries and falsehoods that shape our concept of reality.
For this April Fools’ Day, the fakers take centre stage through exhibitions, interactive events and discussions hosted by the University of Oxford alongside museums and art organisations across the UK.
The April Fakes Day programme will uncover the individuals behind famous art forgeries, medical quackery and Victorian ‘antiquities’ and explore their impact on society.
The initiative is led by Professor Patricia Kingori, Professor of Global Health Ethics at Oxford Population Health’s Ethox Centre, with The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
Professor Kingori explains: ‘In today’s world, discerning real from fake requires more and more of our energy and attention ─ from fake versions of authentic products to false statements from those in positions of power. Examining who the fakers are and the tactics they use can help us understand more about the complexities of fakery and how it shapes our understanding of reality.
‘April Fakes Day puts fakes and fraudsters throughout history under the spotlight. It explores the ethics of fakery and when it might be justified, and looks at whether fakes, like art forgeries, can ever be valuable in their own right.’