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NU-Q Media Majlis to explore meme culture in ‘Memememememe' expo
Tribune News Network
Doha
The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) will open its 10th exhibition, 'Memememememe', on September 1, running tillDecember 4.
Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor, curator of art, media and technology, with Assistant Curator Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition investigates how digital memes serve as cultural barometers, emotional shorthand, and vehicles for political commentary that influence contemporary consciousness. Organised around four themes—Mass, Length, Time, and Volume—it explores how memes spread, mutate, and act as measures of collective thought.
'As a university museum integrated in NU-Q's academic mission, the Media Majlis Museum blends scholarship, art, and media to make a fuller sense of the world we live in,' said Marwan M Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. 'Memememememe takes something we encounter every day—memes—and asks us to look deeper at how they shape the way we think, connect, and communicate. It's a critical conversation about digital culture that bridges global and regional voices, and one that expands our understanding of the forces shaping the digital world.'
The exhibition transforms the familiar setting of a laundromat into a metaphor for how memes circulate through endless digital cycles, gradually shedding their original meaning in pursuit of virality. Featuring established and emerging artists from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and beyond, it prompts reflection on the fragility of meaning in the digital age.
Anchoring the show is Dutch artist Jeroen van Loon's Permanent Data (2020), a 12-kilometre fibre-optic cable imprinted with the entire Gutenberg Bible and thousands of YouTube comments on data loss and digital decay. The work meditates on what, if anything, truly survives in the churn of digital preservation.
Also featured is The Last Jedi (2013) by Saudi artist Abdullah Al Jahdhami, which highlights how memes transcend their fleeting digital origins to gain cultural significance. In Sarcastic Willy Wonka (2020), American artist Christine Tien Wang reimagines a viral meme as a monumental acrylic painting, exploring the tension between internet ephemera and enduring art. Internet art duo Eva and Franco Mattes present Roomba Cat (2023), a playful yet poignant commentary on blurred boundaries between emotional attachment and technological dependence.
'Memememememe invites visitors to rethink what we consider meaningful communication,' said Taylor. 'Memes are cultural signals shaped by geography, language, politics, trauma, joy, and shared experience. They aren't just entertainment; they're evidence of how we connect, critique, and construct identity in the digital age.'
Newly commissioned works by Alia Leonardi, Andreas Refsgaard, Anne Horel, Eman Makki, Mauro C. Martinez, Orkhan Mammadov, and Seo Hyojung address themes from digital devotion to the fragility of data preservation. Together, they interrogate how memes function as ideological tools—shared, remixed, and repurposed to communicate, amplify dissent, mock authority, and influence identity, self-reflection, and collective consciousness. 'By bringing memes into a museum setting, we're asking who gets to shape culture and how ideas ripple through our digital lives,' said Ali. 'The exhibition challenges visitors to slow down and examine the hidden mechanics of memes, revealing how they spread, stick, or slip away.' Memememememe will be open Sunday to Thursday, 10am to 8pm, at the Museum's exhibition space on NU-Q's campus in Education City.
