Memememememe

The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar will explore Internet memes through the lens of measurement in its 10th exhibition, “Memememememe,” opening on September 1, 2025, and running through December 4, 2025.

Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor, curator of art, media, and technology, and Assistant Curator Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition examines how digital memes serve as cultural barometers, emotional shorthand, and vehicles for political commentary that influence contemporary consciousness. Through four interconnected themes —Mass, Length, Time, and Volume— it looks at how these small yet powerful units of culture spread, mutate, and measure our 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 striking metaphor for how memes circulate through endless digital cycles, gradually shedding their original meaning in pursuit of virality. Showcasing the work of established and emerging artists from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and beyond, it invites reflection on the fragility of meaning in the digital age.

Anchoring the show is Dutch artist Jeroen van Loon’s monumental Permanent Data (2020), a 12-kilometer-long fiber-optic cable imprinted with the entire Gutenberg Bible and thousands of contemporary YouTube comments on data loss and digital decay. It serves as a powerful meditation on what, if anything, truly survives in the vast churn of digital preservation.

Also featured is The Last Jedi (2013) by Saudi artist Abdullah Al Jahdhami, which captures the ability of memes to transcend their fleeting digital origins and take on new cultural lives. In Sarcastic Willy Wonka (2020), American artist Christine Tien Wang reimagines a viral meme as a monumental acrylic painting, confronting the tension between internet ephemera and enduring art forms. Meanwhile, Internet art duo Eva and Franco Mattes present Roomba Cat (2023), a wry yet poignant reflection on the increasingly 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 span 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, critique, amplify dissent, build solidarity, 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.”

The exhibition underscores the Museum’s mission to stage boundary-pushing projects that confront urgent contemporary topics, reinforcing its position as a cultural hub for experimental media and critical conversation. “This exhibition zooms in on a communication device we all use daily yet rarely stop to interrogate,” says Alfredo Cramerotti, director of the Media Majlis Museum. “Through design, scenography, and newly commissioned works, Memememememe invites us to reflect on the true cultural weight and influence of memes—those seemingly trivial fragments that profoundly shape how we perceive and navigate our world.”

As the first university museum dedicated to exploring journalism, communication, and media in the Arab world, the Media Majlis Museum continues to create immersive experiences that challenge conventional narratives.