[Air-L] Online Webinar - Memes: the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism - Friday 15th May, 3-7pm

[Gerbaudo, Paolo]

Dear Colleagues,


You are all invited to attend our online conference on Memes and the cultural logic of late capitalism. We will have two panels with speakers discussing the nexus between memes and politics. To participate you need to book your ticket via Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-conference-memes-the-cultural-logic-of-late-capitalism-tickets-103137966434


Best,


Paolo



Online Conference 'Memes: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism?' hosted by the Centre for Digital Culture, King’s College London - Friday 15th May, 3-7pm


Meme has become a by-word of contemporary digital culture. This term has been used to described simplified contents such as captioned macro pictures, short-videos, recurring phrases and all sorts of internet fads that we find on social media. With their penchant for humour and sarcasm, their remixability, irony and recursivity, memes are an interesting object of study because they seem to embody much of what is unique about digital culture vis-a-vis pre-digital cultures. Furthermore, they have become the privileged means through which all sorts of new online contents travel, from extremist propaganda, to social and political issue formation, to celebrity fandom and trolling.

What does the prominence of internet memes tell us about our society at a time of profound crises of capitalism? What do some of memes’ recurring characters such as the Wojaks, Virgin vs. Chad and all sorts of variations on Spongebob and BoJack Horseman, tell us about the emerging fears and preoccupations of our society? Are memes simply a neutral medium that can fit any content, or do they carry their own bias and specificities? And if so what is the dominant cultural spirit of memes? Are they the reflection of an hyper-reflective society that cannot take itself seriously and which is caught into self-introspection and presentism? Or do they offer hope of constructive self-criticism and potentials for social and political imagination?

This online conference will bring together scholars working on memes and their cultural, economic, political implications.

Panel 1: Meme Magic is Real! Studying the politics of online subcultures through their memetic activity with Marc Tuters (University of Amsterdam), Daniël de Zeeuw (University of Amsterdam), Stijn Peeters (University of Amsterdam), Tom Willaert (VUB/Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Sal Hagen (University of Amsterdam) and Emillie de Keulenaar (University of Amsterdam & Utrecht University)

Panel 2: Politics of memes with An Xiao Mina (Harvard University), Alessandro Lolli, Anastasia Denisova (University of Westminster) and Philip Seargean (Open University)

Book your place and you will be sent an access link to attend the conference online along with the event programme including abstracts, speaker bios and panel details 2 days prior.


Dr Paolo Gerbaudo,
Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society,
Department of Digital Humanities

Director of the Centre for Digital Culture

King's College London,

Room S3.10, Strand Building, 3rd Floor,

Strand

London WC2, England

Phone: +44 (0)20 78481576