Modes of architectural criticism in memic image macros
Conference paper
How would the Internet meme relate to architectural criticism, and architectural history at large? The Internet meme’s deeply unserious roots and nature brings new nuance into a profession that is traditionally associated with stoic, rigid value judgments. I examine the meme as a born-digital vessel for architectural criticism. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the meme as “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations”[1].
Referring to a 2010s Facebook meme group called NUMTOTs: New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens, a user testified that “I joined this group expecting memes and all I got was the equivalent of a bachelor’s in urban planning.”[2] Recent developments such as the evolution of the Web 1.0 static website into the highly commercialised social media platform and the ‘inauthentic’ online architectural magazine, arguably have eroded the importance of architectural criticism at large. Alongside a broader history of architectural criticism in the last 20 years — its current iteration of crisis brought on by digital technologies — I bring the qualities of the Internet meme to attention in terms of its similarities to previously ‘undervalued’ genres of criticism as such graphic satire[3].
There seems to be some form of value in the meme, albeit on surface level, it may seem like a somewhat humorous or ironic value rather than one that has strong ties towards ‘criticism’ or the act of being critical. Yet, memes as a non-‘permissible’ medium are still marginalised and delegitimised in academia — whether it be due to its deinstitutionalised character, or its ties to problematic politics. This ossifying of the memic medium full of subversive potential as ‘lowbrow’ is divisive. This paper will interrogate the value of value judgments within architectural criticism with and adjacent to memes.
This paper was presented in the International Conference Per il grande pubblico. L’architettura tra dibattito, divulgazione e strategie narrative (For the General Public: Architecture Between Debate, Dissemination, and Narrative Strategies), Politecnico di Milano, 2–3 December 2025.
[1] Oxford Dictionary of English (2024), under “Meme.”
[2] Jay Owens, “Post-Authenticity and the Ironic Truths of Meme Culture,” in Post Memes, ed. Alfie Bown and Dan Bristow, Seizing the Memes of Production (Punctum Books, 2019), 100, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hptdx.7.
[3] Gabriele Neri, “Graphic Satire and the Public Perception of Architecture. A Missing Genre” (Weinberg Fellowship in Architectural History and Preservation, The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies – Columbia University in New York City, 2022), 1.