NATIONAL GALLERY PRAGUE
How do we distinguish originals from fakes? Exhibition Falza? Falza!
EXHIBITION CONCEPT / INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE / CAMPAIGN / BOOKS
How do we distinguish originals from fakes? Imitations of important works are still being created today and are a threat to museum and gallery institutions as well as private collectors. The exhibition Falza? Falza! at the Sternberg Palace on Hradčany Square presented imitations of medieval paintings, sculptures and drawings.
There was also a large interactive part of the exhibition where visitors could try to spot the fake themselves.
The catalogue explains in an attractive way the methods used to authenticate works of art. Readers will thus get to know the behind-the-scenes work of the entire team of NGP experts – from the curator to the restorer to the chemists in the laboratory. They are all involved in the detection of inauthentic works - the object is first examined closely, its history is researched, and then the restorer and state-of-the-art techniques come into play to help reveal the (in)authentic work. In certain cases, even criminologists have to get involved – that is why they also describe their experience in the publication.
Another publication aimed at the wider public accompanied the exhibition and the catalogue Falza? Falza!. In a playful and accessible way, it seeks answers to the questions of what are imitations, fakes and copies and what methods and state-of-the-art techniques are used to verify the authenticity of works of art and to detect (in)genuine works. It also explores how the view of what can be considered original has changed in the past.
