I am teaching the Foundations course “The Post-Real” in the Critical Studies Department of the California College of the Arts over the 2022 Spring semester.

The course addresses the following questions:

Do you know what is real or fake, factual or made up, truth or lies? Do you think we live with a shared reality, that reality is up to each individual, or that reality is an algorithm that has been hacked? Has what is real become wildly confusing as disinformation, alternative facts, or conspiracy theories increase? What does it mean to see deepfakes, chat bots, AI systems, virtual life forms, replicants, and counterfeits swarm across the digital and offline world?

In this course we examine how the technologies we make and use shape the real, who the players of the ‘reality business’ are, and how this matters in the choices we make in daily life. Over the semester, we will create artworks and short essays in response to texts, artistic works, films, animations, and performances by Indigenous, Afro-diasporic, Latinx, Asian and other global theorists and artists. This course provides foundational skills in critical analysis through hands-on assignments that improve how one communicates concepts and ideas.