Internet Memes : Art Movement?

[Sporky111]

For a while now I've had this idea rolling about in my head, and I meant to ask you Internet folks about it.

First, a bit of background information: around the 1920's there was an art movement called "Dada". It was a radical protest to established norms of art, so far as becoming called "anti-art". Examples of Dada work are a handful of paper shreds dropped onto a page and glued where they landed, a urinal turned on it's side and titled "Fountain", and a print of the Mona Lisa with a paper mustache glued onto it.

Internet meme's are a bit "anti-art" as they are usually started anonymously and continued by the masses of the internet. Each meme isn't a single piece, it's a collection of pieces all under the same title.

With this in mind, do you think that internet memes would qualify as an "art movement"?

 

[Snarky Username]

Well, if you can argue internet memes as art, you could argue everything as art. And then where does it stop?

Actually, you could argue just about anything as art because there is not a definite definition or art. It can be paintings, movies, video games (take that, Ebert!) books, whatever you choose.

So yes,internet memes can be argued as art.

 

[IzisviAziria]

ugh... I like to think that art must engage a person on an emotional level. "inducing lulz" isn't exactly emotionally stimulating.

 

[bobknowsall]

ugh... I like to think that art must engage a person on an emotional level. "inducing lulz" isn't exactly emotionally stimulating.

Well, intense disgust might well qualify. If emotional trauma counts as stimulation, that is.

 

[unoleian]

If it's an art movement, it's, like, neo-Dada or something.

edit- maybe if I had completely read the thread...
Anyway, I can kinda smell what you're stepping in. However, Dada was a very short-lived movement for a reason. Nonsense for the sake of nonsense doesn't hold up to much scrutiny, when you get down to it.

 

[dbungus2000]

Apparently not, I got a probation for posting a "THE GAME" thread. Mods don't appreciate art apparently.

 

[Enigma6667]

The day internet memes become art is the day my ass sprouts wings and flies me into space.

Think about it this way: If you consider taking a picture of your cat and adding an unfunny caption on it art, then okay then. There is no definite way to describe art. Art just is. But if you really do think that memes like "Yo Dawg", "Imma let you finish", or "Mudkips" are trying to make an "artistic" statement then you probably have low standards.

Hell, "goatse" is considered a meme. I do NOT want to qualify that drivel as an art form.

 

[Rensenhito]

The problem here is the use of the term "art." Art can mean pretty much anything. It always could.
I'm sure there's someone in the world who thinks database management is an art.
That said, I think that memes could be considered a VISUAL art movement. We must tread with care round the modifier tree.

 

[Mozared]

'Art' as a word has pretty much lost its meaning, yes. Can you remember that game you played, or that movie you watched, or that book you read, that was just jaw-droppingly awesome, really did something to you and was incredibly recognizable? That's what used to be art.

The problem is that constant argueing about what is 'art' and what is not has deminished the value of the word. There are too many things associated with that word. If you name your game/movie/book art, you could either be a total snob who simply thinks that his favourite work > your favourite work, you could be a heartfelt passionist or you could simply be someone who considers (for whatever reason) all games/movies/books as art.

Nowadays, if you want to express how awesome something is, you simply need to use different words as todays 'art' isn't the same art anymore as it was 10, 20, 50, 200 years ago.

So yes, memes can be 'art', as quite literally everything can be 'art'. But I'll never go so far as to say they can hold the same emotional value as stories like Lord of the Rings, Fight Club or even the Warcraft universe.

Then again, though: some memes, when applied in the right situations, can be so chest-hurting laughably funny that I guess there *is* a huge emotional attachment there - it's just made out of joy rather than pure recognision and sentimentality.

 

[SYSTEM-J]

Thanks to the avant garde and postmodernism, just about anything can be considered art if you invite people to think of it as art. Duchamp proved this much 80 years ago with Fountain, the ultimate Dada piece. So if you want to call Internet memes art, then go ahead. Frankly at this point, accepting something as "art" doesn't mean agreeing that it's intelligent or worthwhile.

One thing it definitely isn't is "anti-art". Anti-art is a statement. Dada deliberately set itself up to oppose the art community and destroy meaning. Most participants in Internet memes don't even think of what they're doing as art. Besides, Fountain was recently voted the greatest piece of art in the 20th Century. It's almost impossible for anything to be considered anti-art now, because the art community absorbed Dada and the avant garde and made a profit from it.

 

[child of lileth]

If 'Mama Luigi' qualifies as an art movement, I don't know how I'd react.

 

[thehappysunflower]

I believe that memes are not a valid form of art. Art needs to be something that can be appreciated and allow to us to connect to emotionally. Memes however are just jokes that make you laugh.

 

[Jai Khanna]

thehappysunflower I agree with what you say. Going the right way..

 

[thehappysunflower]

Finally getting some support