Debut, or, Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued

A fascinating reflection on the reproduction of art becomes a visionary digital detective story in pursuit of a mysterious art forger.

With modest means and maximal creativity, Julian Castronovo makes his debut in the borderlands between memory and fiction, where imitations and AI-generated images probe questions of authenticity and the aesthetics of forgery. In the wake of a mysterious art forger, we are led into a dense labyrinth of speculative fiction in which identity, creation, and deception generate more questions than answers. Debut is an innovative and self-reflexive detective narrative, an F for Fake for our time influenced by Walter Benjamin’s theories, where truth seems to flee as if it were itself afraid of being exposed.

• Rasmus Kilander