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  3. Can a meme be considered art?

Can a meme be considered art?

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  • none_dc@lemmy.worldN This user is from outside of this forum
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    #1
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    • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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      #2

      Of course

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      • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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        #3

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        • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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          #4

          Anything created with the purpose to evoke a response can be considered art. At its core, art is just expression.

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          • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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            #5

            To be good is not a requirement, so yes.

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            • Q [email protected]

              To be good is not a requirement, so yes.

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              #6

              This. Not everyone can be an artist, but art can come from anywhere.

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              • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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                flux@lemmy.worldF This user is from outside of this forum
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                #7

                I'm assuming you are talking "fine art" / art in a museum . Sure. Many artists have what we consider "memes" Barbara Kruger, Shepard Fairey, and and others have work we consider memes or meme like.

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                  kbal@fedia.ioK This user is from outside of this forum
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                  #8

                  https://i.imgflip.com/601zqc.jpg

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                    #9

                    Yes, for starters the definition of art is vague and subjective.

                    But over most definitions a meme could fit it.

                    As a rule of thumb I don't really worry about what's art and what's not.

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                    • O [email protected]

                      Anything created with the purpose to evoke a response can be considered art. At its core, art is just expression.

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                      #10

                      Try to convince folks a car is art. Either the design or the experience. People seem really resistant to the idea of mass produced things that aren't intended to be art can, in fact, be art. But some cars are beautiful. Some cars are thrilling. Both are human expressions of emotion yet neither have allowed a car to be art. The only way an art gallery would accept a car as art is if it is deformed.

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                      • C [email protected]

                        Try to convince folks a car is art. Either the design or the experience. People seem really resistant to the idea of mass produced things that aren't intended to be art can, in fact, be art. But some cars are beautiful. Some cars are thrilling. Both are human expressions of emotion yet neither have allowed a car to be art. The only way an art gallery would accept a car as art is if it is deformed.

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                        #11

                        The car I drive every day was chosen for the sole purpose of its art. The flow of a road is art. The choice of what trees to keep or remove is art. What color you paint your house is art. The way your vacuum is designed is art. Your TVs bezels are art. Your fridges tone of eggshell is art.

                        Someone made a choice. Just because people choose to view an artless world doesn’t mean it’s not always around them.

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                        • O [email protected]

                          This. Not everyone can be an artist, but art can come from anywhere.

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                          #12

                          I would argue everyone can be an artist. In my opinion at least it's more of a matter of effort and passion than talent, although of course talent helps you to achieve your artistic vision.

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                          • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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                            #13

                            1000001958

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                            • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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                              #14

                              I'm not sure memes in the original Dawkins sense can be art, so I suppose we must be talking about the modern sense of "funny images and short videos".

                              Elitists will say that for something to be art it has to be produced by someone who is capable of producing traditional kinds of art, but who for artistic reasons has chosen to do otherwise (see: Cubism), and there's the whole problem of, at least for images, certain meme templates being recycled over and over which diminishes the artistic value of any specific instance.

                              But for specific rare instances? Sure. Art is often in the eye of the beholder, regardless of the intent of the creator.

                              And as for videos. See any Vine compilation. There's bound to be at least couple in there.

                              Finally, if you really want to turn an existing meme into art, use those elitist traditional methods to imitate one. An oil-painting triptych of "OMG they were roommates" without captions would be both art and lean into the meme incredibly heavily.

                              Would that be a comic strip writ large? Maybe. But there'd be nothing inherently funny about two frames of a woman walking and then a man's face in close up. But if you know the meme, buddy, that's art.

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                                #15

                                If a banana taped to a wall can be considered art, anything can be art.

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                                • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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                                  #16

                                  by definition, all art are memes (if we go by the original Dawkins definition)

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                                  • kolanaki@pawb.socialK [email protected]

                                    If a banana taped to a wall can be considered art, anything can be art.

                                    none_dc@lemmy.worldN This user is from outside of this forum
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                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Let's not forget the Fountain of Duchamp

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                                    • O [email protected]

                                      This. Not everyone can be an artist, but art can come from anywhere.

                                      cracks_inthewalls@sh.itjust.worksC This user is from outside of this forum
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                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Everyone can be an artist. The only requirement is that they create art.

                                      Now, a professional artist, yeah I agree with you.

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                                      • none_dc@lemmy.worldN [email protected]
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                                        #19

                                        Nothing I post is.

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                                        • O [email protected]

                                          Anything created with the purpose to evoke a response can be considered art. At its core, art is just expression.

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                                          wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                          #20
                                          Fuck you
                                          

                                          "Clever Retort", Birch, 2025, Digital Text on Digital Background

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