Fables and Forensics

Name: Fables and Forensics
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ISBN: 9783982668338

Emily Watlington

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Paperback

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English

Floating Opera Press
18 March 2026

Sociology & anthropology

Series: Critic's Essay Series

Research-based art has become one of the defining genres of the century. Taking the collective Forensic Architecture as a case study, Emily Watlington, senior editor at Art in America, argues against what she sees as the dangerous slippage between artistic research and alternative facts. Turning to the work of Walid Raad, she nonetheless argues for the importance of possible other realities. Watlington describes Raad's work as a kind of ""surrealism for the information age,"" and persuasively argues that this is distinct from fake news. The differences in Watlington's two case studies are somewhat subtle, but the stakes of the distinctions are profound. As faith in facts declines rapidly and fascism and autocracy are on the rise, it is clear that shared realities are essential to democracy's future. And yet, imagining alternatives to our present is as important as ever. What's an image maker to do now that seeing has so little to do with believing?

By: Emily Watlington
Imprint: Floating Opera Press
Country of Publication: Germany
Volume: 1
Dimensions: Height: 170mm, Width: 120mm,
ISBN: 9783982668338
ISBN 10: 3982668336
Series: Critic's Essay Series
Pages: 92
Publication Date: 18 March 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Emily Watlington is an art critic and senior editor at Art in America. She is a recipient of the Rabkin Prize, the Vera List Writing Prize for Visual Arts, and the Theorist Award from C/O Berlin. She is based in New York and holds a master’s degree in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture and art from MIT.