Against today’s socio-political backdrop of fake news causing radicalized divides, our research imagines recuperating the hoax as a site for collective inquiry. Our entry point is Dan’s Papers, a long-standing local Long Island print. The first free paper in the U.S., it has published a series of hoaxes to instigate community activity and social discourse. Daring to explore this as a methodological pathway, we ask: can artistic communication challenge or enhance fact-oriented research? Can the perceived negativity of hoaxes and fake news be subverted for societal good, to foster curiosity and creative engagement? Operating along the peripheries of the suburban archetype, Long Island, we inquire into the history and practice of Dan’s Papers to perform a self-aware [re]enactment of the hoax.
George Kan is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at NYU. He is an artist and writer from London, a critic at the Brooklyn Rail and has lectured at CUNY in Contemporary Art History.
Suzi Teo is a curator and researcher from New York, with an MA from NTU, Singapore. She is Director of Museum Quality and has organized exhibitions at State University of New York, Hudson Gallery and the Photographic Society of Singapore.