Reality is Overrated

The new "digital reality" described in the article is one that exists alongside reality, one that most people are able to integrate into their lives (save for the hikikomori or shut-in who become completely engrossed in it). The model of reality referred to as representation is the belief that media portrays reality, and simulation is the belief that media constructs reality. The difference between the representation or simulation forms of reality and the "digital reality" is that one is what the article describes as a social or cultural landscape, an expansion that exists simultaneously with reality as opposed to portraying it or being constructed of it.

Artists who explore this shift blur the line between mediums that exist digitally and in reality, combining the two and creating works that break the barrier between them. The focus of these works, like those by the artist Gazira Babeli who is described in the article, lie more on the use of both virtual and real, and emphasizing that the distinction between them relies on individual perspective rather than objective fact.