Authenticity in society

For my research about authenticity I'm also reading about the subject without going on vintage right away. Therefor I started reading the book 'Authenticity' by David Boyle, which highlights the more social side of the subject.

'Authenticity' tracks the emergence of the New Realists who are not convinced by corporate technologists and globalizers, and are increasingly committed to real food, real culture, real politics, real schools, real community, real medicine, real culture and real fashion. The rise of local brands, real ale, reading groups, organic vegetables, slow food, poetry recitals, unmixed music, materiality in art and unbranded vintage fashions, are all symptoms of the same thing – a demand for human-scale, face-to-face institutions and real experience.



In the introduction of the book David Boyle pointed something out that really astounded me. For his research he visited the Japanese theme park Ocean Dome, which has an artificial beach with a sliding roof, a wave machine and it's heated to a steady 30 degrees centigrade; just a few hundred yards from the real beach! In the nineties, round the time it was build, the park attracted millions of visitors. Now, since 2007, the park is closed, because of the lack of interest in the beach, customers continued to stay out. I thought it was a great example for the trend of authenticity at the moment. People do'nt want artificial palmtrees, a drawn horizon and a fake flaming volcano. They want the real thing..