«Parafictioneers produce and manage plausibility... The art of the plausible discloses consensus about the way things are; but it also can make a new reality sensible: accessible both to feeling and reason.»

– Carrie Lambert-Beatty

In 2018, we are aware more than ever that the news is not necessarily sought, found and documented in a purist reach for objective verité or essential truths. The news is designed.

Rather than bluntly make up «fake news» memes relating to current affairs,

Felipe Castelblanco and Joseph Popper invite to craft parafictions. Working in groups over the three days the students generate, make and then deliver parafictional news items responding to and reimagining existing stories around current events. Taking the TV news studio as a model, they gather different parafictions under a common news agency for a 15-30 minute special edition broadcast performance. The performance will combine video and other artefacts with live delivery to a studio audience.

By employing methods of speculative design and design fiction the students develop and deliver imaginary news stories, moving from low resolution headlines to high detail visions. Every story or issue becomes a brief for invention and the making of new meanings and realities. In this workshop they rapidly develop narrative scenarios, iterate prototypes and practice forms of storytelling while considering principles of reversed making. Responding to actual events in the world of parafictional narratives can imagine new potentials out of current affairs and shift perspectives on how one consumes the news. The emphasis is on experimenting with both the kind of news story itself (the anecdotal) and the forms or tools employed for its dissemination (the apparatus of broadcast media). The parafictional news studio will be a collaborative effort and made together - working as a shared platform for reaching out to Freilager and the wider world beyond through the recording of the broadcast.