„Choose Your Future takes the hyperbolic political imaginings of young people, raised on the Internet, and puts those words directly into the mouths of content creators. In this way, the project mimics the process of signal amplification that occurs through social media, when radical takes move from the fringe and into the mainstream. Is this the complex analysis of the Rand Corporation? Or is it a teenager on Instagram who thinks it would be cool if these two labels were combined? I am interested in those two spheres exchanging information. 

 In 2021, I commissioned a group of artists and Gen Z-memers to write short wiki-style descriptions of improbable futuristic scenarios. To produce these texts, writers were instructed to copy/paste existing Wikipedia entries and to play ‘mad libs’ with the nouns, verbs, and dates. Drawing from political precedents and movements of the past, these short stories recombine history in order to anticipate long tail ideological factions that may emerge in the future. The clunky and stylistic prose shows tensions between competing editors and interpretations. The factional disputes can be read between the lines.

 This project combines the creative efforts of some of the artists, memers, and content creators who have inspired me mostly over the past years.“

– Joshua Citarella

Credits

Texts by: Margo Bergamini, Nick Bird, @cyber_reactionx, David Noel, Abbey Pusz, D.Z. Rowan and Joshua Citarella. 

Read by: Caroline Busta, Mat Dryhurst, A.M. Gittlitz, Daniel Keller, Anna Khachiyan, Holly Herndon, Lil’ Internet, Jack Wagner and Joshua Citarella.