For obvious reasons, I love this Syllabus Project from Rena Tom.
This syllabus explores the concept of fake objects, defined as material replicas of originals that are absent, fictional, immaterial, or otherwise unobtainable. Fake objects are created to satisfy the desire for things that never were. Their worth is not necessarily tied to the rarity of the original or the fidelity of reproduction. Value is found through fakeness, not in spite of it, giving the fake object the potential to be even better than the real thing. We’ll first look at what fake isn’t, then investigate examples of fake objects used to celebrate, mourn, and preserve moments in time.
Real dolls, the Cayce Pollard jacket, joss paper Gucci bags, fake melting ice cream cones, crocheted representations of coral reefs. Fantastic.