IRC-Galleria

The word ‘meme’ today usually refers directly to internet memes, especially in every-day language, which at its part demonstrates the power of the internet in terms of language. Because internet phenomena are relatively new, also internet memes “still miss out on the rich interpretative and critical work being done if the lure of their name is to be followed.” (Goriunova, 57) The original meaning of a ‘meme’, created by biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to genes especially in the context of culture, and their “structure, mechanisms of distribution and survival, productivity and fecundity” are alike. (Denisova, 6) However, Denisova states that the theory of Dawkins lacks a clear explanation of the function and characteristics of memes, consequently being under constant, interdisciplinary critique today. (ibid, 6-7) Viral images or videos are often falsely treated as memes by the general public, even though the only transformation they went through in the virtual space was contextual, for example used as reaction images on image boards or as shared content on social media platforms, leading to their virilization. In 2013 Dawkins himself referred to his work The Selfish Gene in the context of internet memes, pointing out that the original meaning is not that far from today’s understanding: “...when anybody talks about something going viral on the Internet, that is exactly what a meme is” (quoted in Milner, 21) Logically, internet memes are often compared to biological viruses because of their similar, transformative and contagious qualities. Even though similarities to the ‘classical’ memetics, especially with matters such as genes and reproduction are visible, internet memes cannot be straightforwardly put in the box of memetics. Olga Goriunova considers internet memes as singular, “technoaesthetic methods of becoming, whether of subjective, political, technical or social phenomena.”, stating that this kind of becoming is not only about collective copying, but also has qualities connected to “novelty, aesthetic work and diversity.” (Goriunova, 57)
The contradictory relationship between myths and logic have been an important topic of discussion and debate since the ancient times. As for Groys, the death of God marked the rise of design, neo-pragmatist Richard Rorty notes that religion and science have enjoyed a state of quasi divinity: in the 17th century we tried to substitute the love of truth with the love of God and in the 18th century we attempted to substitute the love of ourselves with the love of scientific truth. (Rorty, 21) As the world is increasingly connected to the internet, the world also speaks about the return of myths. (Lucero-Montaño, 1) “The extraordinary developing and differentiation of the cultural spheres (science and technology, economics and politics, etc.) has exhausted and collapsed a substantive reason.” (ibid) Internet memes are perhaps the most notorious examples of contemporary myths and they as well touch upon the ancient concept of mimesis to the extent of the fact that memes are often based on the ‘reality’ outside the virtual realm, and into which they also have a counter effect.
Plato’s allegory of the cave is one of his most famous examples and certainly a central metaphor of Western philosophy (Rorty, 2000; pg. 5) In simple words, by creating a myth of the cave, Plato wants to point out “how the use of reason can free us from the shackles that keep us in the dark cave of the world of appearance, a cave in which we can only watch shadows pass along a screen, and can lead us out into the true world, where objects are seen as they really are, irradiated by the light that streams from what Plato called the Good.” (ibid) Even though Plato hails for reason in his allegory, the cave itself operates as a myth. By communicating through myths, Plato uses it as a metaphorical tool, making abstract terms easier for people to understand. Internet memes operate likewise, however, the internet’s non-linearity and non-materiality make them more effective; they can as well be used to educate, but their creators do not necessarily need to undermine their credibility. Fundamentally, the sensation of anonymity that the internet provides makes it easier for people to share more. (Bargh & McKenna, 2004) “The reason why it is now possible for Darryl from Accounting who hates “social justice warriors” to have the same communicative power as a television network is down to the DNA of the medium: speed and lack of gatekeepers. Memes thrive on a lack of information – the faster you can grasp the point, the higher the chance it will spread.” (Haddow, pg. 10)
Again, for the reason that the internet can be considered as real as the physical, it is evident that viral memes have a strong ability to have an effect on the offline world, especially through language. If perceived through the neo-pragmatist glasses of Richard Rorty, it can be said that the internet has now become a prominent part of nature, which “does not offer us a universal language to speak”: it functions as an additional space of (re)creation of language, without the restrictions of physicality. Rorty famously considered poets as the most important users of language, since they are aware of its imperfection and especially the role of contingency; only the act of making metaphorical redescriptions corresponds with remarkable intellectual growth. (Rorty, 28) Inspired by Nietzsche, who suspected that only poets can appreciate contingency, he declared that the rest of us are “doomed to remain philosophers, to insist that there is really only one true lading-list, one true description of the human situation, one universal context of our lives. We are doomed to spend our conscious lives trying to escape from contingency rather than, like the strong poet, acknowledging and appropriating contingency.” (ibid) In the case of internet memes, also correspondingly to Groys’ statements on social media and self-design, the internet allows these metaphorical redescriptions to be created and spread by anyone, which are then gradually popularized -- perhaps somewhat similarly the old adages in different parts of the world in the times of offline. The original poets remain unknown and the gaze of others takes care of the delivery and circulation.
Roland Barthes describes myth as a type of speech and a semiological system; the mythical speech can appear in any verbal or visual medium, which delivers a meaning. (Barthes, 108-110) Similarly to Rorty’s accounts on poetry, Barthes states that myths spring straightforwardly from contingency and historical context (ibid, 123), however “Whereas myth aims at an ultra-signification, at the amplification of a first system, poetry, on the contrary, attempts to regain an infra-signification, a pre-semiological state of language; in short, it tries to transform the sign back into meaning: its ideal, ultimately, would be to reach not the meaning of words, but the meaning of things themselves.” (ibid, 132-133) For him, myth is depoliticized speech; it is never natural and is created by people -- therefore it always carries an ideology and can be transformed easily. Myths, likewise memes, simplify and attempt to show things as obvious or factual: “...simply, it purifies them, it makes them innocent, it gives them a natural and eternal justification, it gives them a clarity which is not that of an explanation but that of a statement of fact.” (ibid, 143), making them as well very suitable for political interests, as seen in the recent history.
Apart from the concept of mythos, as a social gestalt, internet memes resemble ancient philosophical ideas regarding art and storytelling in their broad frameworks. For Plato, all the works of art are based on representation and he saw artists as mere imitators (Plato, 335). In this point of view, art functions on emotional levels and therefore distracts us from rationality. Plato’s student Aristotle for his part saw mimesis (representation) as an entirely natural, instinctive human operation and a way of learning, which as well produces pleasure. (Aristotle, 15, 13) According to him, art is based on representation of human actions, which never actually happened in reality. (ibid, 85) Susan Blackmore shares similar views about the creation of memes; she argues that creating memes is a natural, but very complex process, which we constantly do. The process is based on imitation: “I am reassured by simply reminding myself that human life really is like this. We do copy each other all the time and we underestimate what is involved because imitation comes so easily to us. When we copy each other, something, however intangible, is passed on. That something is the meme. And taking a meme’s eye viewer is the foundation of memetics.” (Blackmore, 52)
Even though internet memes exist in the sphere of the internet's virtual and are unavoidable, they are often rooted in the every-day material reality; likewise art is classically said to be/do. Being based on copying, representation and transformation, extremely easy for everyone to create, share and perceive, internet memes have become sort of crafts of the internet, which some could as well ignorantly consider as art. Referring to the ancient philosophical ideas compared above, forthrightly talking about contemporary art and memes in the same breath is highly problematic, because memes as a viral phenomenon lack the context of the art world and therefore by themselves cannot be straightforwardly considered as art. Milner, who considers internet memes as “examples of vernacular creativity” (Milner, 96), supports the ideas of Jean Burgess, who proposes that “... we avoid equating vernacular with practices that are more “authentic” or “pure” than the manufactured hegemonic literacies of “high culture.”” (ibid) but as well highlights that the “vernacular is nonetheless more connected to the folk than the formal, more to the amateur than the professional, and more to the bricoleur than the craftsperson.” (ibid)
However, due to the popularity and high affectivity of internet memes, they are constantly being applied to both contemporary art and popular culture, which then physically, through representation, integrate them (as copies) into the sphere of ‘analog’ reality, for example inside gallery spaces and public advertisements. At the very foundation, the classical look of internet memes, consisting of simple texts accompanied with an image, resemble street advertisements. (Denisova, 9) At turn, a piece of art can become a viral meme and gain multiple new lives on the internet. Paintings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance are popular examples of such phenomenon: recontextualizing already known and perhaps surprising images by connecting them to contemporary vernacular makes the joke. (Milner, 98)