Neil Potnis is an Indian American video artist and founder of Disruptve Studio, a nonpartisan media lab examining visual culture and social movements within Global South diasporas.

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He is currently a PhD student in International & Transcultural Studies at Columbia University, where he serves as a Doctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the Center for Sustainable Futures. His research approaches media as a form of civic education, asking how visual systems shape public understanding and translate into collective action around climate justice and social inequality. Potnis holds an MSc in Computational Design Practices from Columbia University GSAPP and a BS (Hons) in Arts and Entertainment Technologies from the University of Texas School of Design and Creative Technologies.

 

His recent work was featured at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, where he used image-compositing techniques to prototype low-carbon earthen construction systems. Prior to his doctoral studies, Potnis served as a Design Fellow at Columbia Entrepreneurship and Columbia World Projects, leading visual workshops on social impact for the Obama Foundation Scholars. He has also worked at Columbia’s Natural Materials Lab, developing life-cycle assessment tools as visual artifacts, and at labr, where he contributed to the development of a climate marketplace oriented toward public participation.

 

Across his practice, Potnis examines how multimedia functions as a site of civic learning. His work explores how visual narratives reframe research for public audiences and shape the conditions under which political action becomes visible.