Joshua Citarella's Newsletter

I’m an artist and internet culture researcher based in New York. I write about Gen Z online political subcultures. In 2018, I published a brief ethnography called Politigram & the Post-left. (Read the full piece for free here on Substack.) Since 2020, I’ve been writing, podcasting, and live-streaming as a way to crowdfund my research and explore primary sources. The media narratives and academic research around these topics has been disappointing and at times detrimental. I think we need better, more honest narrators to engage in the public discussion.

My work has appeared in The Guardian, Document Journal, MSCHF Mag, Spike Art Magazine, and many more. My research and quotes have appeared in numerous publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Interview Magazine, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and others.

This is an independent publication and it is only made possible with your support. Paid subscribers get early access to content as well as exclusive posts, podcasts and more. My newsletter regularly includes:

• writing on emergent trends & online subcultures

• interviews with radical Gen Z meme accounts

• podcasts with academics, researchers, artists & content creators

• video lectures, artworks and more

Since beginning this project I’ve published two books: Politigram & the Post-left and 20 Interviews . (You can read them both for free here on Substack.) These works are the only independent research of their kind. They describe radical memetic subcultures as they are and from the inside.

My podcast features an array of accomplished guests from various overlapping fields: Angela Nagle, Taylor Lorenz, Yung Chomsky, Dorian Electra, Mat Dryhurst, Jack Wagner, Sean Monahan and many others. I’m interested to have frank conversations across political orthodoxies that help make sense of today’s hyper-polarized online landscape.

My work has been shown in galleries and museums around the world including: Kunstverein in Hamburg, The 34th Ljubljana Biennale, Sotheby's, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design and many others. I used to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the School of Visual Arts (SVA). I’ve served as an outside advisor at Carnegie Mellon and Tufts University. But I’ve found that in order to be honest and speak freely, its necessary to publish on my own independent platform. So here I am.