New media, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybernetics: are the latest technologies push back the very limits of 'reality'. The nature of the real in the digital age is ever more hotly debated and the place of these debates in visual culture can hardly be overstated. Innovative and provocative, this book brings together the latest research on 'the state of the real' by practitioners and commentators across the disciplines of photography, film, media studies, critical theory and fine art. Engaging with the work of critics and thinkers as varied as Linda Nochlin, Lev Manovich and Donna Harroway, Lyotard, Baudrillard and Barthes, The State of the Real looks first at the different ways in which 'realism' and reality have been understood in recent art history, with a particular focus on debates about the real within photography. Emphasising the role of art in shaping, as well as reflecting, notions of the real, the book features contributions from a number of contemporary artists and showcases a new photoessay by artist Andrew Lee. The collection looks finally towards advanced technologies and the virtual world in a section which concludes with a specially commissioned contribution by acclaimed thinker Slavoj Zizek. This is an indispensable volume for students of 'the digital age' across the fields of art and photography, film, media studies and critical and visual theory.