About - Reality Studies

Welcome to Reality Studies, the place where complex reality makes a little more sense.

Reality has become very strange. Every day, something triggers the sensation: a piece of news that feels more satire than truth, an overheard snippet of conversation, yet another new social practice or technology to track. Then again, reality has always been unreal.

“Reality…one of the few words which mean nothing without quotes.”
—Vladimir Nabokov

I’m a poet who landed in tech—and while it’s fair to assume all my work lives between those two poles, that’s especially true for Reality Studies. Since grad school, my career has taken me from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, from journalism to new media art, with no small share of side quests. I’m currently an Adjunct Professor in USC’s Media+Arts Practice program, Arts & Culture Advisor for Protocol Labs and Senior Curator at Nxt Museum, the first museum for new media art in the Netherlands. I write about topics at the intersection of art, culture, media, and technology on Forbes, as well as outlets like Billboard, Flash Art, NBC News, The Verge, and WIRED. I also run Postreality Labs, a consultancy that helps organizations navigate the future.

Reality Studies is where I synthesize what I’m learning across these experiences—and in researching my book manuscript, Postreality. The futures of reality will be defined by convergences and intersections, and it is in this spirit of curiosity and consilience that I dive headfirst into unpacking our past, present, and future realities.

On Reality Studies you’ll also find the Urgent Futures podcast, where I sit down with leading experts whose ideas clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. It’s available wherever you listen to podcasts, and the full video versions are on YouTube.

My hope is that the newsletter and podcast help reality feel a bit more navigable. In Reality Studies, you’ll find feature-length stories, analyses, and other bites. It’s an interdisciplinary endeavor that brings together concepts across technology, philosophy, art, and current events.

I’m excited to learn from the community that might emerge from these efforts—so stick around, say hi, and tell your friends.

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Clarifying the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. Fresh perspectives on art, media, technology, philosophy, and the future—and where they intersect.

People

Jesse Damiani

@damiani

Writer, curator, & advisor. Senior Curator, Nxt Museum. Adjunct Assistant Professor, USC Media Arts + Practice. Affiliate, metaLAB at Harvard. Arts & Culture Advisor, Protocol Labs. Forbes Contributor.