About

Essays from the archive of the future.

Each week, Creative R&D publishes an essay that explores a single work of art—visual, musical, literary, cinematic—that sets the preconditions for how creativity meets technology today.

We connect the past to the present: from Talk Talk to time crystals, from Mad Max to Erosion Birds, from Demon Slayer to generative storytelling engines.

Alongside the essay, we track bleeding-edge developments in materials science, AI research, experimental games, performance, and digital aesthetics—drawing the map of a cultural landscape still being built.

Creative R&D is for artists, researchers, technologists, and anyone haunted by lost futures and excited by what comes next.

Each issue also includes:

  • A second essay on a novel technology or research breakthrough with creative implications

  • A curated selection of emerging artists, books, platforms, and prototypes

  • Deep Foundations—links to research papers, interviews, or archives that ground each issue intellectually

  • Signal Returns—a digest of themes from earlier issues to track long-wave trends

This is Creative R&D as fieldwork: mapping not just what’s new, but where it came from—and where it’s going next.

About Chris Michaels

Chris is a consultant, advisor and researcher based in London.

He helps organisations:

  • Tell new stories for a changing world

  • Develops the case for investments in R&D and Innovation

  • Grow new creative technologies and digital IP

His clients include universities, research organisations, start-ups, technology companies and many of the world’s major museums. He works independently and with Bolton & Quinn and Human Economics.

He is Deputy Chair of English Heritage and sits on the Digital Advisory Boards of the National Gallery. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

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The positive evolution of creativity in face of technology change depends on community. Join with others who want to understand that evolution here on “Creative R&D: Art | Research | Technology”.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.

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Essays from the archive of the future. Drops every Sunday.

People

Founder, Chris Michaels Digital Advisory | Author, "Creative R&D" on Substack | Strategy, Bolton & Quinn | Associate, Human Economics | Deputy Chair, English Heritage | Digital Advisory Boards, The National Gallery and the British Film Institute