Name: True Copy | Berlin | HKAF2023
Start: 2023-02-28
End: 2023-03-05
Location: Hong Kong Cultural Centre

2500+ are interested

Feb 28, 2023(Tue) - Mar 5(Sun)

Location:Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Map

10 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

About the event

True Copy | Berlin Show Introduction

截屏2022-11-30 11.48.13

Fake it until you make it—discover the delights of deception in the art world

True Copy is a thrilling and thought-provoking show that’s a perfect fit for this post-truth era - where “alternative facts” have replaced actual facts, and feelings are given more weight than evidence.

Presented by the BERLIN theatre company from Belgium, True Copy revolves around the story of Geert Jan Jansen, one of the most notorious swindlers in the art world who was jailed in France two decades ago for his role in a massive forgery scandal and who continues to exhibit today—using paintings under his own name, of course. For years, Jansen meticulously created paintings in the style of artists including Picasso, Miro, Appel, Matisse and Van Gogh, and had them sold at auction houses in Europe. Picasso and Appel themselves validated some works as authentic and it is believed that some of Jansen’s forged paintings still hang in museums around the world.

True Copy is a documentary/live theatre hybrid show that combines a performance exploring the hypocrisy inside the art world with digital projections of Jansen’s remarkable fakes, and includes a lecture by Jansen and a demonstration of his remarkable forgery techniques. True Copy will be making its Asian premiere at the 2023 Hong Kong Arts Festival after receiving five-star rave reviews on its tours around Europe, telling the tale of a talented painter whose work and life involved a constant balancing act between fiction and reality.

The show was conceived and directed by Bart Baele and Yves Degryse, the co-founders of BERLIN, which was awarded with the Culture Prize for the Performing Arts 2015 by the Flemish Government. “Berlin succeeds like no other in giving the audience a special experience,” said Flemish Minister of Culture Sven Gatz. “Their documentary approach results in a unique kind of theatre.” And promotion for the show started even before the premiere. The theatre company faked the discovery of a “previously lost” Picasso in November 2018, sending the international press into a frenzy for several days until BERLIN revealed Jansen as the creator of the artwork.

A bit mischievous maybe, but as Jansen himself once said: “Sometimes it’s just delightful to be deceived.” And Hong Kong Arts Festival audiences themselves should prepare to be delighted by this humorous, captivating study of the meaning of authenticity, truth and reality itself. Whether you are a fan of the theatre or visual arts, True Copy is a show that cannot be missed.