

PANEL: PHILOSOPHY AND MEMES
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On October 1st 3pm PST
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From the depths, Foreign Objekt has summoned the nightmare of a nightmare to come.
Theory posters. Or memers. Or ... something/s?
These pages are the non-Oedipal parents of philosophy’s monstrous children
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Hosted by media theorist ๐๐ฏ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ญ๐
The Author of ‘Meme Dankness: Floating Glittery trash for an Economic Heresy,’ chapter in Post-Memes, eds. Alfie Bown and Daniel Bristow, Punctum Press, 2019.
Featuring known sorcerers, war machines and becoming animals:
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๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฑ
๐ฆ๐๐ฆ๐_๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐_๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ_๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ _๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ
๐๐ก๐_๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ_๐ฆ๐๐ฆ๐_๐ฆ๐ค๐๐
๐ ๐๐ค๐ ‘๐๐ข๐๐จ’ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ซ๐๐ข

๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐
๐๐๐ง๐ค ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐
Organized and Curated by: Sepideh Majidi


multi- panel memes ๐ฟ๐๐ก๐๐ช๐ฏ๐๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ง๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ
Philosophy and Memes panel
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This cabal will discuss and fail to discuss arcane topics such as:
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“What is a meme author? Who do they belong to? Who has the responsibility of translating them? /conceptual personae (fakegang). Emergent communities
-Memes as living/multipositional objects
-Memes as psychoanalytic/schizoanalytic exercise.
-Why does the resurgence of Deleuze and Guattari fit so well with the popularity of memes? EXPLAIN DELEUZE TO ME OR I’ll FUCKING KILL YOU” (The ecology and topology of the memeopshere)
_ฬณ Memes as smooth space—strata-hopping
_ฬณ memes as lines of flightCthulhu (the eerie and the weird)
_ฬณ Memes as currency?
_๐ฝ๐๐ฎ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ & ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ก๐๐ช๐ฏ๐
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Creative approaches to meme making? Going beyond the notion of memes as commodification (a tired analysis if you ask me) and towards an almost Lyotardian notion of setting people in motion through memes. Related to the topic of responsibility or question of what are we doing? when we make this content - Grugeaux
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The parasocial aspects of running a theory/philosophy meme page? Because the ideas being dealt with are quite complex, relatable, personal, many of us end up making connections both with each other and interacting (or declining to interact) with “fans”. Does this parasocial element change the way these pages are run? Does it make the proliferation of philosophy through memes more effective? - ๐๐ง๐ช๐๐๐๐ช๐ญ
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I also think it could certainly be interesting, though this is obviously a “personal” topic, to discuss mental health or pressure in relation to running a meme page. We are not automata, and the fact is that running a page is a process of churning, iteration, a certain metrification of the self, comparing the likes here with the likes there, experiencing the bitterness of diminishing returns with respect to those dopamine hits. And then there’s the little talked about sense of pseudery, where (at least in my case) your audience expects that you know far more than you conceivably can. This, of course, leans more into a meta-discussion of memes, but I think it’s a potentially worthy one. - ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ง๐ช๐๐๐๐ช๐ญ
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This idea of pseudery is important, especially when considering the air of authority a high following count can bestow; not as a claim that autodidacts are pseuds; rather the act of creating theory related memes, text over image confers a status of knowledge and the level of explication that followers seek out -
_๐๐๐ ๐ ‘๐ฝ๐๐๐ค’ ๐ฝ๐๐ง๐๐ง๐๐
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Also a meta-discussion of memes and along the same vein as Grugeaux’s suggestions and emergent communities - but perhaps something with regards to the comment sections? There’s a lot of decent discussion but it’s also easy to derail a community with just a few distrustful commentators. The beauty of being an IG admin is wielding the all-powerful ban hammer and censoring ‘discussion’ when you feel fit without having to answer much to anybody because it’s ultimately your own damn page. This is mostly inspired by an article I read recently where the statement “Good online communities die primarily by refusing to defend themselves” made me rethink my approach to admin’ing. - _๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐
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Liminality and meme account cycles; there have been several constant staple accounts in the ‘theorygram’ sphere/milieu since I joined in late May, however within the fakegang phenomenon there have been several ‘waves’; people interested in creating work that coheres with the energy of the space hop on, publish a few memes, often really clever or quality, and then eventually get bored and fade away. There have been several waves of fakegang creators, which results in scores of these accounts, mostly inactive or semi-active-- but the fact that it draws people into a space of the net that provides the potency to actualize this kind of mimesis is interesting - _๐๐๐ ๐ ‘๐ฝ๐๐๐ค’
Co-signed cause that’s some real shit you just said. - ๐๐ง๐ช๐๐๐๐ช๐ญ
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Your last point has me thinking about accessibility as well; do these meme accounts translate ‘high theory’ into more relatable, practical contexts? Do they transform theory in a way that is productive or are they simply reductive?
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This probably links to mental health in some sense, but memes and nostalgia, or the acceleration of nostalgia. The theorygram thing seems very old for what it is and the meme form is necessarily given to repetitions of cathexis (but with a difference), so this works both in the genre and on the creator (whoever that is, as above to be discussed), so, nostalgia and acceleration thereof - _
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Linked to nostalgia is kinda the possibility of memes ‘clearing’ out space for aesthetics (or failing to do so). I use my page to play with theory-fic (or whatever I’m writing), and there is something ludic in this, clearly not a meme, but it seems to participate in the same aesthetic regime … so I guess I’m interested in the idea of an aesthetic space that memes belong in, but aren’t the sole objects of (a non-reductionist aesthetics of?) this is less than half ready to talk about.
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Memes as encapsulations of ideology
Reterritorialization of the meme in OC theory images (it refers to an abstract concept, rather than a cultural or commercial signifier), the creativity and rigor, direct production (Deleuze and Dragons)
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Praxis, inversion of theory/philosophy of art, a signification process of what the experiential aspect of reading or participating in philosophy (Socrates’ Daemon - Metaspinoza and Yvette)
_๐๐๐ ๐ ‘๐ฝ๐๐๐ค’ ๐ฝ๐๐ง๐๐ง๐๐
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Mimesis as the basic unit of theory (dailybarbarian)
Philosophy of being a pseud. Entrance towards spaces and conforming towards their archetypes and interests.
Page arrangement by: Sepideh Majidi
All work created for the panel
FOREIGN OBJEKT
www.instagram.com/yvettegranata
www.instagram.com/meme_love_you_long_time
www.instagram.com/thatintimatefeeling
www.instagram.com/beyond_woke_and_problematic
www.instagram.com/thousandgrugeaux
www.instagram.com/the_philosophers_meme_mk24
www.instagram.com/deleuzeanddragons
www.instagram.com/fakebifoberardi
www.instagram.com/sepideh_majiidi
www.instagram.com/foreignobjekt
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Curated and organized by Sepideh Majidi
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