The Meme Material

Is meme an artform? No. Can an artwork be a meme? Perhaps, but probably not for good. Can art be made out of memes and their inherit language? Certainly yes! In their essence memes are coping mechanism with algorithm driven world of constant exchange of useless and indirect information. We use them to differentiate ourselves form how machines see us, and by use of irony, humor, sarcasm or just grim and gruesome notes on life, we perform different kind of intelligence that somewhat defies logic. Are memes jokes? Some of them yes but in essence they are much less invented much more collaged into being from bits and pieces that otherwise are not funny by themselves. But what makes a meme good. We cannot measure them by popularity as no one knows how they are pushed around the highways of the internet. We can though say that a memes are like ping pong. Simple meme is just an juxtaposition of two or mor things in simple filed. A ping. Better one is also a pong, meaning that the joke goes two ways or more and it touches more layers of reality than simple commentary. The best meme is the one we ask ourselves where the hell is the ball? The best memes are understood without clear knowledge why they work as such. When you relate to a thing on so much levels, or it speaks to you beyond the level of you knowing why and what it actually means we are approaching the language of art. I would like to make a distinction between art memes and art made out of memes. Art memes are just memes with a twist, understood by few people who got hurt by the artworld enough to have a sort of Stockholm syndrome driven PTSD by it. Art made of memes is a different and probably much more interesting thing. It takes the current languages of the internet, the ultra-contemporaneity as a matter that tells a story of us struggling to make sense out of it. Even if it does fail at that I does not fail as art. Below is in my opinion quite comprehensive and entreating selection of meme related art hosted by CIFRA. Enjoy and avoid meme driven brainrot.