250 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
USA
Is My Truth Your Truth?
May 3, 2017
After a five-year hiatus, the MemeFactory returns to the stage to take stock of the meme moment in 2017, when a group of people have taken credit for meme-ing a president into office and visual culture has taken on an overtly political attitude. Where once “lolcats” were the lingua franca of memes, now we struggle to dissect the visual impact of allegedly racist frogs and debate whether it’s okay to celebrate the various remixes of a white supremacist getting socked in the jaw. The MemeFactory performs, critiques, and considers the evolution of niche online visual cultures in a special, one-night program developed specifically in response to the themes of the ICP Museum’s current exhibition, Perpetual Revolution: The Image and Social Change.
MemeFactory’s performance will be preceded by a talk by Alice Marwick, a fellow at the Data & Society Research Institute currently leading the Media Manipulation project, which examines the relationship between far-right Internet subcultures, participatory culture, and the mainstream media. Marwick’s presentation will focus on memes as a powerful, visual form of participatory, user-generated content in today’s visual culture environment.