Lustfaust
Encyclopedia
Lustfaust was a hoax 1970s German electronic music
band, whose memorabilia was notably featured in the Beck's Futures
exhibition in 2006, and which deceived Sunday Times cultural commentator Waldemar Januszczak
into running an article describing their claimed activities in giving away free copies of their music to fans. Januszczak went so far as to tip the collection for the Beck's Futures
prize.
The exhibit, which was eventually runner up for the prize once it had been exposed, was designed by conceptual art
ists Jamie Shovlin
, Mike Harte and Murray S Ward. Shovlin had previously gained notoriety by setting up an exhibition of art that was claimed to have been produced by a 13-year-old missing schoolgirl called Naomi V. Jelish
(who, like Lustfaust, never existed — her name was even an anagram of the artist's name). The work has been praised for the depth of its deception — the artists set up fake web sites about the band and added it to Wikipedia
, assembled photographs and chronologies for their tours, recorded an interview with the band's "German-Belgian frontman", and even recorded excerpts of music which were attributed to them. The deception was so deep that some viewers actually boasted of having seen the band live. This was in spite of deliberate clues which had been included in the exhibition, such as notes describing the band as veering "dangerously close to Spinal Tap
-isms" and "an obscurantist's
dream".
One person who guessed at the exhibition's nature was The Times
art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston
. Four days before Januszczak's piece was published, she praised the collection, but cautioned "Don’t be surprised if the entire band is a fabrication—down to its references on internet sites."
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
band, whose memorabilia was notably featured in the Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures was a British art prize founded by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and sponsored by Beck's beer given to contemporary artists....
exhibition in 2006, and which deceived Sunday Times cultural commentator Waldemar Januszczak
Waldemar Januszczak
Waldemar Januszczak is a British art critic. Formerly the art critic of The Guardian, he now writes for The Sunday Times, and has twice won the Critic of the Year award...
into running an article describing their claimed activities in giving away free copies of their music to fans. Januszczak went so far as to tip the collection for the Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures was a British art prize founded by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and sponsored by Beck's beer given to contemporary artists....
prize.
The exhibit, which was eventually runner up for the prize once it had been exposed, was designed by conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
ists Jamie Shovlin
Jamie Shovlin
Jamie Shovlin is a British conceptual artist.He staged his first exhibition in 2004 basing it on what he claimed were the drawings of a disappeared schoolgirl called Naomi V. Jelish. He supported this claim with newspaper cuttings and diaries, and the work was bought for £25,000 by Charles Saatchi...
, Mike Harte and Murray S Ward. Shovlin had previously gained notoriety by setting up an exhibition of art that was claimed to have been produced by a 13-year-old missing schoolgirl called Naomi V. Jelish
Naomi V. Jelish
Naomi V. Jelish was a fictional schoolgirl and artist created by the British artist Jamie Shovlin for a 2004 exhibition.According to Shovlin, Jelish had disappeared with her family in 1991, aged 13, a year after her father and brother accidentally drowned. Her teacher, John Ivesmail had kept a...
(who, like Lustfaust, never existed — her name was even an anagram of the artist's name). The work has been praised for the depth of its deception — the artists set up fake web sites about the band and added it to Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, assembled photographs and chronologies for their tours, recorded an interview with the band's "German-Belgian frontman", and even recorded excerpts of music which were attributed to them. The deception was so deep that some viewers actually boasted of having seen the band live. This was in spite of deliberate clues which had been included in the exhibition, such as notes describing the band as veering "dangerously close to Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap (band)
Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
-isms" and "an obscurantist's
Obscurantism
Obscurantism is the practice of deliberately preventing the facts or the full details of some matter from becoming known. There are two, common, historical and intellectual, denotations: 1) restricting knowledge—opposition to the spread of knowledge, a policy of withholding knowledge from the...
dream".
One person who guessed at the exhibition's nature was The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Rachel Campbell-Johnston is The Times newspaper's chief art critic.Appointed to her post in 2002, she has also been her newspaper's poetry editor, leader writer, deputy comment editor, obituary writer and deputy books editor....
. Four days before Januszczak's piece was published, she praised the collection, but cautioned "Don’t be surprised if the entire band is a fabrication—down to its references on internet sites."