Laguna Beach Deepfakes California Museums
A (digital photograph of a) tableaux vivant of a painting of a museum gallery of paintings. The living picture represents Susan Hoehn's painting LACMA (The Artist at LACMA) , 2024, which depicts paintings by Lichtenstein, Hockney, and Ay-O Call it the Nathan Fielder method of art appreciation. Instead of looking at original paintings, assemble a crew of actors to impersonate people depicted in paintings. Have the actors pose motionless in 2D sets with flat lighting that makes their silent performance virtually indistinguishable from the real paintings. This is not an episode of The Rehearsal but the premise of Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters, performed each summer by residents of the artsy seaside community. Up close the tableaux vivants offer a trip to Uncanny Valley. However, for most Pageant visitors in the Irvine Bowl, the illusion is virtually seamless. It is as if they are viewing a slide projection of the artwork. This year the Pageant is offering simulacra of...
