Meme-thinking and Meme-making

Unlike other cultural sectors such as music and film, popularity has an adverse impact on the critical perception of contemporary art. Meme-thinking is a made-up umbrella term to consider the intersection of popular culture and the field of contemporary art. In the workshop, we will be discussing theories from the field of cultural studies and how memes can be analysed in their context. Following, we will be studying the construction of internet memes and end the session by making memes together.

Cem A. is an artist and curator with a background in anthropology. He is known for running the art meme page @freeze_magazine. Since its inception in 2019, @freeze_magazine has become a tool for creative collaborations between Cem and fellow artists, researchers and organisations. His memes explore topics such as survival and alienation in the art world, often through a hyper-reflexive lens.

His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Art Newspaper and Dazed Magazine. Selected exhibitions include documenta fifteen, Kassel (2022) and solo exhibitions Hope You See Me as a Friend at Barbican Centre, London (2022); Pleased to Announce... at Versus Art Project, Istanbul (2022) and The Party at Weserhalle, Berlin (2021). He has held lectures at HeK Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel; Universität der Künste, Berlin; Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins, London.

November 18, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
15 participants capacity
Registration: buchung@bundeskunsthalle.de