Nick Currie, aka Momus will be discussing Art and Lying. This is a special engagement, as his other London events at Cafe Oto and UCL are either sold out or limited entry.

When designer Zak Kyes had to choose an aphorism for the cover of Momus’ Book of Scotlands, he picked: “Every lie creates a parallel world. The world in which it is true.”

Authorised lies have shaped Momus’ artistic practise in the form of Unreliable Tours of institutions from the Nobel Museum to the Whitney Biennial, a series of Emotional Lectures in which an academic angrily describes a creative genius who has seduced his wife, and two books of speculative histories of the future of the nations of Scotland and Japan.

So, are art and lying the same thing? Is art really “the lie that tells the truth”? What are the circumstances under which a lie becomes generative, and what are the techniques of triangulation demanded of audiences confronted with a proposition, in the form of a work of art, which is in some way outrageously unlikely? Is there liberation in untruth, and is political impotence the price art pays for that freedom?

Momus has put out 24 albums over the last 26 years, as well as writing, producing, and performing with other artists, including working with the Japanese pop star Kahimi Karie. He has written cultural criticism for Wired, Vice, Index, and 032c, among others, and more recently he has turned to performance lectures and fiction.