»Ain/'t Nothing Like the Real Thing?«

Is this the real deal? Whether it's vinyl records, images of black holes, deepfakes, or tourist attractions, the attribution of authenticity serves various functions in different contexts by referring to the aspect of materiality. Conversely, (media) artifacts also come into focus as objects of authentication processes. The phenomena to which authenticity is attributed or denied are as diverse as the disciplines that make, examine, and question these attributions. The contributors provide analyses on the authentication of and through media and artifacts, following this interdisciplinarity.