The artist collective Solarpunk Surf Club is bringing a collaborative storytelling gameplay experience to the State University of New York at Fredonia campus.

Hosting the four visiting artists in the collective – Max Puchalsky, Borealis, Katherine Smith, and Kyle Herrera – is the Department of Visual Arts and New Media’s Visiting Artist program, in collaboration with the Department of English.

The Solarpunk Surf Club will present a question-and-answer session on Friday, Feb. 7, from noon to 1 p.m., in Fenton Hall Room 127. The club will host an artist talk on Friday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in McEwen Hall Room 209. A Solarpunk Futures gameplay workshop will be held Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room.

The visiting artists will bring the collaborative role-playing game they designed and that guests will play together, with a discussion to follow. The game is about envisioning a better future through back casting and world building visions of a utopia.

All events are free and open to students, faculty and community members.

Solarpunk Surf Club’s visit is a great opportunity to bring students from different disciplines together and see a collaborative art-making practice in action, said Assistant Professor of Animation and Illustration Abbey Paccia.

“The gameplay workshop also provides our community the chance to engage in meaningful discussion about the ways in which we want to shape our future – through art, storytelling, and play,” added Paccia, who is coordinating the event with Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Illustration Quintin Gleim.

Solarpunk Futures was created to open up space for imagining beyond the dystopian stories that dominate today’s culture and limit a sense of what’s possible, Mr. Puchalsky explained. Players are encouraged to cultivate a collective position grounded in shared values, historical memory and a commitment to desirable futures.

“Our hope is that the stories and strategies born in this game will leap off the table and into the world, inspiring people to act boldly with the understanding that all futures are built in the present,” Puchalsky said.

Solarpunk Surf Club’s campus visit is supported by the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund through the Fredonia College Foundation.

More information about the collective can be found on the Solarpunk Surf Club’s website at https://www.solarpunksurf.club/ Information about the game can be found at https://www.solarpunksurf.club/page/solarpunk-futures