Tag Archives: PBS Idea Channel

Do Now #31: Are LOL Cats and Internet Memes Art?

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Do Now

Do you think creative, funny internet memes could be considered artwork? If not, how you would categorize them? Describe one of your favorites and/or send us a link to it.

Introduction

All over the internet, "People are creating images and sharing them with strangers for the purpose of communicating their personal experiences." Art takes many forms, and PBS's new web video series, Idea Channel, poses an intriguing question in this recent episode about memes and art. The internet offers an opportunity to share individually-crafted punch lines and images on a global scale, but what do we call this act of creation? Art? Jokes? Procrastination fodder? Or all of the above? In contemporary art, successful works are not necessarily made by hand or even tangible—making a visual representation of an idea, whether it goes viral or not, is a creative act.

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