An article co-written by Rebekah Modrak and Rochester Institute of Technology communications scholar Jonathan Schroeder is featured in the latest issue of Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, published by Visual Studies Workshop. The article is part of a special issue of Afterimage called “Media Literacy in a Post-Factual Age.”

Modrak and Schroeder’s article, “Performing Skepticism through Parody: Re Made Company’s Media Critique,” proposes that the artwork Re Made Co.’s fabrication of fake New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles, among others, is a positive parodic version of “fake news” that exposes flaws in journalism and media, which feign criticality while simultaneously propagating brand messaging. Whereas “fake news” via the internet, as in the context of the 2016 Trump/Clinton election, poses serious concerns for democratic processes and critical perspectives, the “fake news” of Re Made can be an important training tool to teach skepticism about information presented via internet-based media — an elaborate effort to enhance media literacy.

The Re Made Co. work can be viewed at http://remadeco.org/