Everyone possible remembers the days in childhood when waking up and school was not the most desired place to go to. The only way to get around school was to convince the parents of a sudden illness. Trying to look ill, the parents would come to the bed and would say: “Oh dear, you really look a bit pale around your nose. I think, you should better stay in bed.”

People create fake evidences and stories to manipulate how others perceive oneself for several reasons: to avoid doing things, to get more attention or to influence the behaviour of others. In the case of illness, the mother is replaced by the doctor later in life, who had to be convinced to give a medical certificate of the inability to work. Lying is a common practice to establish your own alternative reality and to influence interpersonal relationships.

Some people create complex and vivid stories around themselves to get more attention from others or to put themselves in a better light. People without any illness often sit in self-help groups and talk about their non-existing diseases or addiction problems. Some frequently visit hospitals and doctors, just to be in a social network of people paying attention to their stories as this is often denied to them in society. People also create themselves a new and more exiting résumé depending their actual social context to influence others. Thomas Mann described the psychology of these con man very vividly in his book Felix Krull: Die Bekenntnisse eines Hochstaplers.

But there are some situations where words are not enough to establish a convincing story. To create fake evidences is a way to give a story more power of persuasion. These traces might range from self harm, as a way to get more attention or to convince a doctor of an specific disease, to fake traces of imaginary affairs to instigate jealousy in the partner. Some people create fake evidences of being stalked to motivate a partner to move house or they simulate accidents or burglaries to get money from the insurance company.

Research
This ongoing research project investigates methods and objects that people use to change behaviour of others and how they are perceive by society through the use of fake evidences beyond the use of fashion and status symbols. It is an investigation of simulating behaviour and the tools, methods and objects that are used to create convincing stories. Research is carried out into real stories in news, scientific publications and through interviews with psychologists and psychiatrists. Fictional stories are reviewed in literature and film. Finally the research aims to identify people using the described behaviour and to investigate their environment, practice and methods.

Documentation and Design

The aim of the project is to document the scenario in which traces are used to create a fictional story and to create objects which enables people to create better and more coherent simulations in their lives. Rather than offering the common approach of subjecting these activities to restrictive cultural norms, the objects and methods will enables people to follow them in a most effective way. The first outcome of this project is a tool-kit that enables the user to leave traces of an imaginary affair on the to body to make their partner jealous and fire up the relationship.