PUB Journal #3 — Pack of Lies

In this Issue of ‘Pub’, an interdisciplinary initiative started by students of the Sandberg Instituut, when gathering and concocting our series of fictions, falsehoods and deceptions we never considered that these distorted reflections on reality would take shape during a pandemic. Within the context of this unforeseen global event and the multiple truths this situation generated, we were seduced and deceived by the generative lies the texts revealed. Lies which imagined mythical pasts, alternative presents and possible futures.

Fast forward to the present and our social, cultural, economic and media landscape is changing before our eyes in such a drastic fashion that it is hard to believe. In this pandemic reality our collection of fibs feels like a strange comfort. The truth is, we live in a world where racism is perpetrated to undermine people’s humanity and within a Europe where the spurious far-right narrative is steadily gaining traction. We are surrounded by a media so abundant in conspiracies that many question the veracity of the virus in the first place. Discerning fact from fiction feels more arduous than ever. A fib can be fantasy and a fantasy can allow us to imagine something different or better for ourselves, our family, our society and the world around us. In this regard we hope to cajole you into permitting yourself to be convinced by our bundle of half truths.

We invited charlatans, whistleblowers, compulsive liars, truth-seekers, snakes, two-faced cons and genuine phonies to falsify, exaggerate, concoct, distort, embellish, expose, deceive and mislead. Experiencing the many pleasures of lying; a childhood memory, a fantasy, a remembered rumour,