FNDT 164 Core Visual Arts

INSTRUCTOR: Keith Langergraber

ASSIGNMENT: Hoax!

In January 2016 an image under the name of The Gates of Heaven circulated virally on Facebook. The author of the post claimed that it had been taken by the Hubble telescope in the Omega Nebula dn that scientists could not identify the fantastical phenomena. However, the image was not a photograph taken from the telescope, but rather turned out to be a digital artwork. The image had been digitally altered to add a futuristic landscape to a real photograph of the Omega Nebula. It was shared by many who believed that it was an actual portal - one of a mystical or fantastical nature with its angular, crystalline structure.

With this assignment, students were to acquire a used book, magazine, technical manual, catalogue atlas, comic/graphic novel and the rework, amend, extend, deface or alter it into something new focusing on the theme of a hoax. The book could be transformed into a mixed media art form through drawing and illustration. With this project students had to negotiate illustrative interventions with existing text and imagery of their chosen “book.” Applications of collage, colour, folding, removal and rebuilding of the book were all valid approaches, along with digital strategies.

Dawn Choi

Sooy Choi

Shirley Li

Aurora Yol Morales Araneta

Dung Phan

Elisabeth Wong