Superfiction

A superfiction is a visual or conceptual artwork that uses fiction and appropriation to blur the lines between facts and reality about organizations, business structures, and/or the lives of invented individuals.[1]

The term was coined by Glasgow-born artist Peter Hill in 1989. Hill said he drew inspiration from Karl Popper's concept of "falsificationism," Thomas Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and dadaist Paul Feyerabend's book Against Method.[2] Hill's website also calls the fiction of Jorge Luis Borges as an example.[3]

Often superfictions are subversive cultural events in which the artwork can be said to escape from the picture frame or in which a narrative can be said to escape from the pages of the novel into three-dimensional reality. While this may involve a moment of deception regarding the origin, background and context of the presentation, or the veracity of claimed facts, deceit is only a method, intended to condition the observer's perception in a certain way, and it is not the ultimate goal of this artistic practice. Superfictions explore the interaction between the observer's concepts and the actual "objective" evidence that is presented; this is fundamentally analogous to e.g. arranging lines on a two-dimensional sheet to create a perspective illusion, even though the actual works of superfiction often are perceived to push the boundaries of what is considered to be "art".[original research?]

  1. ^ Nelson, Robert (28 Mar 2012). "Artful signs signify only our desire". The Age.
  2. ^ McKenzie, Janet. "Peter Hill: 'I have a love for the solitude of lighthouses at one extreme and the energy of Chicago or Berlin at the other'". Studio International. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  3. ^ Holland, Jessica (3 October 2010). "Orhan Pamuk: Separating reality from the imaginary". The National. Retrieved 21 April 2023.