Meme: Culture in Transmission is currently showing at the Herndon Gallery on the Antioch College campus. The Creative Director of the gallery, Dennie Eagleson and one of the exhibit's contributing artists, Will Davis, talked with Nikki Dakota on Excursions about the exhibit. The idea for the exhibit grew up around the concept.
of memes and the possibility of artists to create works that generate and spread as memes do. Although memes thrive on the internet, the exhibit's focus is not on internet culture but on iconic images that have an impact on ideas and concepts in our culture.
The word meme was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976. A meme is a unit of cultural transmission that spreads from one person to another through imitation, Eagleson told listeners. Will Davis talked about his stereo piece currently showing in the gallery, and hinted at a one-time exclusive performance that will take place at the gallery on Thursday the 24th.
What is about memes that give them their viral spark? Why are these seemingly meaningless images and texts passed along and proliferated so widely? These are some of the questions that the exhibition addresses. Many of the artists are presenting their works with mediums, and combinations of mediums, in ways never seen before. This exhibit seeks to bring to light how we are being affected by these multiple streams of transmission and their unprecedented speeds and intensities.
On February 7th there will be a roundtable discussion with some of the artists who contributed to the gallery to talk about the works in the exhibit and the phenomenon of memes in our culture.
Meme:Culture in Transmission will be showing at the Herndon Gallery from now until February 13th. For more information go to antiochcollege.org or email Dennie Eagleson at deagleson@antiochcollege.org