Northwestern Qatar’s Media Majlis Museum wraps up its 10th exhibition, ‘Memememememe,’ exploring the power of memes in the modern world

The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar celebrates the success of its 10th exhibition, “‘Memememememe’,” after three months of dynamic engagement, which invited thousands of visitors to explore the cultural, social, and political significance of internet memes. The exhibition, which opened on September 1st, 2025, marked the Museum’s fifth anniversary and reaffirmed its role as a hub for critical conversations at the intersection of media, technology, and culture.

Throughout its run, the exhibition drew an enthusiastic and diverse audience of students, scholars, artists, and media professionals. Visitors interacted with artworks, ranging from digital installations to immersive environments, that unpacked the viral nature of online communication and its influence on collective identity.

Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor, curator of art, media, and technology at the Museum, and assistant curator Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition examined memes as cultural barometers through four conceptual measures: mass, length, time, and volume. This structure invited audiences to consider how memes spread and redefine our digital realities.

“Every visit to the Media Majlis Museum reminds me how powerfully it advances our academic mission,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “Memememememe turned a familiar part of digital life into a catalyst for real inquiry, prompting visitors to question, analyze, and see culture differently. That kind of engagement is the heart of academic excellence at Northwestern Qatar, and the Museum continues to be an inspiring space for community engagement and dialogue".

The exhibition brings together a dynamic selection of artworks, including highlights such as The Roomba Cat by Franco and Eva Mattes, a sculpture featuring a cat perched atop a functioning robot vacuum cleaner that roams freely throughout the gallery, infusing the space with an unexpected sense of movement and play. Also on view are the armatures of memes by Seohyo, as well as Curved Screen by Orkhan Mammadov.

The scenography, designed by Shepherd Studio, continued to captivate visitors with a space of endless circulation mirroring the ceaseless churn of digital content. Audience favorites included interactive works such as Andreas Refsgaard’s AI photobooth and Adnan Aga’s Narrative Laundry, both of which encouraged playful yet critical reflection on meme-making and online behavior. Showcasing the work of established and emerging artists based in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and beyond, the exhibition reflected on the fragility of meaning in the digital age.

The exhibition also featured seven newly commissioned works by artists Alia Leonardi, Anne Horel, Cem A., Eman Makki, Mauro C. Martinez, Orkhan Mammadov, and Seo Hyojung, whose pieces examined digital memory, identity, and collective emotion in the age of connectivity.

As the Museum concludes this milestone exhibition, Alfredo Cramerotti, director of Media Majlis Museum, remarked: “With Memememememe exhibition, we took a seemingly lighthearted subject and turned it into an opportunity for deep cultural reflection. The exhibition proved that memes are, in fact, powerful cultural tools that connect generations and challenge conventions.”

Featuring 23 artworks by 12 artists spanning 11 countries, the exhibition became a meeting point for voices from across the globe. The exhibition blended new commissions and existing works, celebrating the diversity of artistic approaches to humor, identity, and communication in the age of connectivity.With the exhibition now concluded, the Museum reinforces its standing as a regional leader in exploring the intersections of media, culture, and technology. The Museum’s upcoming 2026 programming will continue to expand this conversation, offering new ways to experience and interrogate the stories that shape contemporary life.

As the first university museum dedicated to exploring journalism, communication, and media in the Arab world, the Media Majlis Museum continues to create immersive experiences that challenge conventional narratives.

For more information, visit mediamajlis.northwestern.edu

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