Authentic | Fake

This event is a collaboration between the Institute of Psychoanalysis and the Centre for Philosophy and Visual Art at King’s College London.

What separates the authentic from the fake? Is authenticity always something to aspire to? And is fake the worst we can be? What exactly is authenticity? Should we want it - and, if so, how do we get it? Join philosophers, analysts and artists to debate these questions.

Speakers:

Ed Fornieles is an artist whose work uses film, social media platforms, and immersive simulation to investigate relationships, identity and the status of the artist in contemporary society. Works includes the The Dreamy Awards (Serpentine Gallery 2012), a fake awards ceremony with real celebrities, and New York New York Happy Happy a ‘semi fictional’ gala for the New Museum.

Ben Ware is Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy and Art at King’s College London, where he is also a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy. His work explores the intersections between continental philosophy, psychoanalysis, and modernist aesthetics. He is the author of numerous books, most recently On Extinction: Beginning Again at the End (Verso, 2024). 

William Badenhorst is a psychoanalyst with the British Psychoanalytical Society and a psychiatrist in private practice.

Chair:

Alla Rubitel is a psychoanalyst with the British Psychoanalytical Society and a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS at the Portman Clinic.

A drinks reception will take place afterwards.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers

Concession tickets are available to students, trainees and unwaged.