A Really Fake Future is a collaborative project by textile-based designers Karen Huang (Taiwan) and Jason Page (USA), inspired by the tapestries of Dutch artist Elma Beks (1926-2014). The project envisions a future where traditional textile handicrafts such as quilting, embroidery and design are replaced by digital representations. By translating 3D materials to 2D images and vice versa, the designers question what textile craftsmanship may look like in this future.

Karen Huang and Jason Page investigated various forms of materializing an archive of forgotten textiles physically, digitally and at the grey area in-between. Their large-scale woven tapestry work ‘Waves’ looks at how a visitor can experience a body of work through an edited piece of an oeuvre. The five videos commissioned to five designers explore how digitalized textiles can live new lives beyond material and craft-time limitations. The in-between works created by Huang and Page aim to visualize the conflicts of working with traditional textile handcraftsmanship and a need to produce for the current rapid pace of society.

Commissioned video works by Samuel Rynearson, Lukas Engelhardt, Armands Freibergs, Leith Benkhedda, Rik Laging / audio work by Haron Aumaj.

A Really Fake Future was curated by Florence Parot and exhibited at iso during Unseen Amsterdam from 20-29 September 2018.

A Really Fake Future is supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.