Andrea van der Straeten examines found or autobiographical (miniature) stories with a critical eye on the functions of oral communication in a media-driven society.
“Rumor Clinics—About misinformation, viruses, rumors and other diseases in communicative processes and about early American preventive and healing methods” is the result of her research on a seemingly bizarre political institution in the USA, whose threatening topicality seems to be taken from a science fiction fairy tale. In a long conversation with the author, director and producer Alexander Kluge, she expands on these media and narrative-critical approaches. Kluge's initial thesis is that “we need to create a narrative space in which we can repair ourselves”: “Morphogenetic communication—I have absolutely no doubt that it exists.”
