New York Review of Architecture:
S-K-Y-L-I-N-E
10th August 2023
Extremely Online [Link]
FiDi — “There really isn’t another place for writing like this,” remarked JOSHUA CITARELLA about Do Not Research, the private Discord server-turned-blog he founded in 2020. Citarella, an artist and connoisseur of the esoteric corners of the internet, had convened a young and engaged crowd at Fulton Street project space Dunkunsthalle (a former Dunkin’ Donuts, hence the name) to celebrate the release of Do Not Research: 2022–2023. As its unadorned title indicates, the 402-page volume aggregates all entries published on the blog in the past twenty-odd months. Among the contributors are musicians, artists, scenesters, internet theorists, video artists, meme page admins; the content is similarly eclectic. Across the collection (the second Citarella has put out), the modes of voice oscillate from allusive to aloof, solipsistic to arch, conspiratorial to checked out. But time and again, the essays return to a common theme—really, a hermeneutical flourish. Channeling Mark Fisher, the DNR gang parses online interactions, memetic trends, and fringe or concocted ideologies to find evidence of political fragmentation and decline.
Do Not Research: 2022–2023 is almost an object of irony, translating a digital forum that analyzes digital realms into a physical medium. The novelty was not lost on the crowd, as nearly everyone had lined up to buy a copy or already had one tucked under their arms. “The community was initially formed to discuss the role of political messaging, specifically through memes,” Citarella explained as he welcomed new arrivals escaping a summer rainstorm. Web designer and contributor SARAH CHEKFA told me that “DNR is research-heavy cultural analysis. A lot of the writing is niche subculture stuff that requires you to be Really Online to even notice it.” Chefka’s contribution to the anthology proves her point: a smart take on the “crying selfie” genre that namechecks Bella Hadid and Susan Sontag and unspools with disarming quickness.
10th August 2023
Extremely Online [Link]
FiDi — “There really isn’t another place for writing like this,” remarked JOSHUA CITARELLA about Do Not Research, the private Discord server-turned-blog he founded in 2020. Citarella, an artist and connoisseur of the esoteric corners of the internet, had convened a young and engaged crowd at Fulton Street project space Dunkunsthalle (a former Dunkin’ Donuts, hence the name) to celebrate the release of Do Not Research: 2022–2023. As its unadorned title indicates, the 402-page volume aggregates all entries published on the blog in the past twenty-odd months. Among the contributors are musicians, artists, scenesters, internet theorists, video artists, meme page admins; the content is similarly eclectic. Across the collection (the second Citarella has put out), the modes of voice oscillate from allusive to aloof, solipsistic to arch, conspiratorial to checked out. But time and again, the essays return to a common theme—really, a hermeneutical flourish. Channeling Mark Fisher, the DNR gang parses online interactions, memetic trends, and fringe or concocted ideologies to find evidence of political fragmentation and decline.
Do Not Research: 2022–2023 is almost an object of irony, translating a digital forum that analyzes digital realms into a physical medium. The novelty was not lost on the crowd, as nearly everyone had lined up to buy a copy or already had one tucked under their arms. “The community was initially formed to discuss the role of political messaging, specifically through memes,” Citarella explained as he welcomed new arrivals escaping a summer rainstorm. Web designer and contributor SARAH CHEKFA told me that “DNR is research-heavy cultural analysis. A lot of the writing is niche subculture stuff that requires you to be Really Online to even notice it.” Chefka’s contribution to the anthology proves her point: a smart take on the “crying selfie” genre that namechecks Bella Hadid and Susan Sontag and unspools with disarming quickness.