Welcome to Jesse Damiani's Reality Studies newsletter

Explorations into the evolution of reality in the Postreality era.

May 01, 2020

Welcome to Reality Studies.

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 community or technology to track.

“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 the Arts & Culture Advisor for Protocol Labs and Senior Curator at Nxt Museum, the first new media fine art museum 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.

Reality Studies is where I synthesize what I’m learning across these experiences—and what I’ve learned researching my book, POSTREALITY. The future 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.

My hope is that this newsletter makes reality feel a bit more manageable. In Reality Studies, you’ll find feature-length stories, analysis, Q&As with subject matter experts, and other smaller bites. It’s an interdisciplinary endeavor that brings together concepts across technology, philosophy, art, and current events. I’m also excited to learn from the community that might emerge—so stick around, say hi, and tell your friends.