media majlis museum Podcast

In the season finale of the media majlis museum podcast, we're joined by one of the exhibition's curators Amal Ali and contributing artist Anne Horel, for a retrospective look at the groundbreaking Memememememe exhibition at Northwestern Qatar. The discussion reveals the exhibition's origins, which began as a two-to-three-year process focused on social movements before landing on memes as a powerful, often anonymous, tool for engaging with culture and sensitive issues. Anne, a digital artist who uses internet language in her work, discusses her three-channel video installation, Good Soup, a meme culture alterpiece, which explores the feeling of "worshipping the algorithm". Her work, which includes highly viral GIFs with millions of views, highlights the lack of control once content is shared online. The conversation further explores the magical connecting power of memes and GIFs as a new iconographic language, the importance of displaying digital art with the necessary hardware, and the philosophical idea of the internet as a global subconscious.
 
00:00 The Memememememe Exhibition: A Retrospective
02:53 The Long Journey From Social Movements to Memes
03:56 The Vision Behind the Research-Based University Museum Exhibition
05:18 Scenography as Narrative: The Laundromat Theme
06:00 Anne Horel’s Good Soup, A Meme Culture Alterpiece
07:11 Internet Language as Anne Horel’s Material
08:24 The Themes of Good Soup: Pop Culture Icons and Pedro Pascal
10:40 The "Magical" Feeling of Internet Connection
12:30 Memes and GIFs As a New Language and Grammar
14:00 The Creation Process: A State of "Trance" and the Absurd
15:35 The Memememememe Publication: A Glossary on Emojis and the Global South
16:44 Curating the Exhibition vs. the Publication vs. the Programs
18:51 Museum Culture: Being Irreverent and Welcoming Reaction
20:54 The Changing Way We Consume Images and the Ethics of AI
23:50 Displaying Digital Art: The Need for Hardware and Innovation in the Middle East
25:15 Favorite Pieces: Oran Mad Dog's Memory and Memes as Intangible Heritage
26:38 Navigating Political Content and Global South Memes
28:46 Comic Sans and Times as Memes
29:57 Is the Internet One Place or Many? The Global Subconscious
31:30 Permanent Data by Drone Van: A Metaphor for Meme Culture
33:40 Anne Horel on Retrieving Data from Broken Hard Drives
34:36 How Anne Horel and the Museum Found Each Other
39:01 Museum's Use of Memes
41:48 Speak the Language of Your Audience
44:41 The Ethics of AI, Children, and Parental Responsibility
52:03 Memes in Art History and Preserving Digital Artifacts
57:21 The Evolution of Meme Cycles and Predicting the Future
 
Amal Ali is a museum curator and cultural producer based in Qatar. She's currently a curatorial exhibition manager at Northwestern University in Qatar. 
Connect with Amal Ali 👉 https://www.instagram.com/amalgam8or/
Anne Horel is a French visual artist, director and writer born in 1984. Known for her maximalist, polymorphous and satirical universe, she has spent over a decade developing a visual language that blends digital collage, pop culture, absurdist humor, experimental animation and hybrid storytelling, deeply rooted in digital culture and technologies. Represented by Galerie Julie Caredda (Paris), she has exhibited at Art Basel Miami, Palais de Tokyo, Times Square, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, the UAE, Colombia and Turkey, and has won multiple awards including the Audi Talent Award in 2017. 
Connect with Anne Horel 👉 https://instagram.com/annehorel
 
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu
 
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 
https://spoti.fi/47I59nsa

FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
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We explore the power and potency of memes in today's society with Abdullah Al Jahdhami, known online as @shaweesh_, an artist who contributed to the Memememememe at the media majlis museum. Al Jahdhami discusses his artistic practice, which involves disrupting and remixing historical and archival imagery, often by inserting pop culture icons to open a new dialogue. He shares the story behind his famous artwork of Yoda with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, an image that ended up in a Saudi nationalism textbook. The artist explains how he uses these archival materials to question what shapes the identity of his generation and how his work, though joyful and funny, encourages people to understand why they are laughing. Al Jahdhami also touches on his process of repatriating historical objects by buying them back from eBay, and his latest works, which use original animation cels to combine Arab childhood memories of dubbed cartoons with scenes from the Gulf War. The conversation closes with his thoughts on the shifting art scene, where exhibitions are becoming an experience more than just "things on the wall".
 
00:00 Introduction
03:06 From Mechanical Engineering to Meme Artist
04:40 The Memememememe Exhibition and Archival Practice
06:55 The Yoda and King Faisal Meme
10:01 The New York Times, The Nationalism Textbook, and Viral Outrage
12:56 Selling Out Editions and Playful Disruption
13:39 Collaborating with Calligrapher Abbas Al Baghdadi
15:23 Remixing the Archive and Shaping Identity
17:55 Opening a New Dialogue with the Generation
19:55 Displacing Iconic Photos with Pop Culture
22:20 Pop Culture and the Albaik Art Piece
24:12 The Photo Etching Technique
26:46 Adding the Art to Newspapers
27:47 Art, Humor and Questioning Truth
32:15 Collages with Original Animation Cels
36:50 Repatriating History via eBay
39:36 Fictional City of Koraq and The Land of Black Gold
43:21 Impressions of the Memememememe Exhibition
44:48 Art Shows Becoming a Whole New Experience
 
Abdullah Al Jahdhami is a Riyadh-based mixed media artist born in 1990. His work examines cultural exchanges between Saudi Arabia and the world by merging visual art with elements of design. Influenced by the early internet era, he integrates symbols from Western pop culture into his pieces, initiating a cross-cultural dialogue. In his latest series, he reimagines figures like Captain America and Yoda within key moments of Saudi history, blending humor and critique. Rooted in personal memory, his love for cartoons and time spent collecting old newspapers in Riyadh, his work takes the form of digital collages that satirically recast cartoon icons as unlikely protagonists in the rewriting of national narratives.
Connect with Abdullah Al Jahdhami 👉 https://instagram.com/shaweesh_
 
Hosted by 
 
 
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns
 
FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096
 
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
⚡ Become a member: https://explore.afikra.com/insiders
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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This conversation is an essential guide for anyone navigating the dualities of Arab identity, artistic integrity, and the unpredictable forces of the viral age. Multidisciplinary artist and professor Narcy (Yassin Alsalman) dives deep into the complex relationship between art, celebrity, power, and internet culture. Narcy discusses his conscious choice to reject the pursuit of virality, instead focusing on crafting art with deep meaning and intention, even as his work—from his viral Kanye West course at Concordia to his music videos—repeatedly breaks through the noise. Narcy unpacks his latest album, To Be An Arab, an intentional return to analog art in a digital world, and details the spiritual serendipity of creating the groundbreaking music video for R.E.D with Yasiin Bey and The Halluci Nation (formerly known as A Tribe Called Red). 
 
0:00 Introduction 
2:54 Narcy's Deep Fake Video and the Death of Celebrity
3:59 Narcy's "Me Against The World"
6:51 To Be An Arab: The Double LP and the Power of Analog
7:21 Rejecting Celebrity by Removing Himself From Music Videos
8:13 Collaborating with AboodSkiba and Investing in the Arab Creative Economy
9:07 Narcy Performs "Palm Trees"
11:45 AboodSkiba's Political Comedy and Cultural Translation
12:44 Narcy Discusses Data Rights and The Ego of Internet Exposure
14:25 Misunderstood Elements of Celebrity and Internet Culture
16:16 The Kanye West Course at Concordia: Going Viral by Accident and Its Aftermath
18:18 The Politics of Academia
20:30 Rejecting The Power of Virality
22:27 "R.E.D" with Yasiin Bey and The Halluci Nation: Decolonial Art and Indigenous Solidarity
32:12 Advice to Young Arab Artists on Integrity and Sacrifice
34:43 No Smoking Allowed: A Rap Exercise as a Flex
36:28 The Analog vs. Digital Divide in Art Value
38:12 Narcy's "The Sword and The Neck"
42:21 Crafting a Visual Practice and Processing Trauma Through Art
44:11 Q&A: Arab Masculinity and the Will to Change
46:58 Q&A: Contextualizing Early Political Work like "Fatwa"
50:16 Q&A: The Political Driver Behind Artistic Process
53:43 Q&A: The Role of Humor in Dealing with Heavy Topics
56:39 Q&A: Globalizing Arab Identity Without Dilution
59:58 Q&A: Protecting the Soulful Work From Systemized Propaganda
1:01:14 Q&A: Experiences with Censorship
1:02:07 Q&A: Managing a Love-Hate Relationship with The Internet
1:04:14 Q&A: What Positive Should We Expect in The Future?
 
Yassin Alsalman, better known by his stage name Narcy, is an Iraqi-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, author, and university professor, and one of the co-founders of Maktaba bookshop in Montreal. 
Connect with Narcy 👉 https://instagram.com/narcynarce
 
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu
 
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 
https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
⚡ Become a member: https://explore.afikra.com/insiders
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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We explore why certain cultural productions thrive exclusively online, the debate around meme humor versus emotional resonance, and how memes can serve as a form of social critique. Dr. Cristina Moreno Almeida, from Queen Mary University of London, joins us and discusses her research into internet culture and memes, particularly their role in North Africa. The author of "Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque," she delves into the unique aspects of Moroccan meme culture, the use of Darija in digital expression, and the political implications of online content in the Arab world, especially in the context of the "Arab Winter" narrative. Dr. Almeida also shares her contributions to the Memememememe exhibition at the media majlis museum.
Download the book 👉 https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/97918/9780197267714.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
 
00:00 Introduction to Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque
03:03 The Journey to Studying Memes
05:35 Exclusivity and Globalization of Meme Culture
08:09 Horror and the Grotesque in Memes
16:09 Genres of Memes in North Africa
20:56 Memes as Activism and Crossing Red Lines
25:16 The Diverse Political Landscape of Meme Production
30:57 Darija and Language in Moroccan Meme Culture
38:20 Reception of the Book in Morocco
41:27 The Ephemeral vs. Eternal Nature of the Internet
45:19 Memes as a Litmus Test for Culture
50:59 Contribution to the Meme Exhibition
 
Dr. Cristina Moreno-Almeida is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Arabic Cultural Studies at Queen Mary University of London and Fellow at the Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research interests lie at the intersection of aesthetics, politics, and cultural production. She has published on rap music, memes, the politics of resistance, nationalism, and online far-right cultures. She is the Principal Investigator of the UKRI (ERC nominated) project "Digital Al-Andalus: Radical Perspectives Of and Through Al-Andalus" (2023-2024) which looks at the melding of historical episodes, nostalgia for lost empires, cultural difference, and violent actions on digital media. Her academic journey includes prior posts at the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of Media and Communications, where  she collaborated on the "Personalised Media and Participatory Culture" project (2015-2017) with the American University of Sharjah (UAE). This research centered on young people’s participatory culture, creative production, and internet usage in Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and the UAE. 
Connect with Cristina Moreno Almeida 👉 https://instagram.com/cristinamoralm
 
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu
 
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 
https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
⚡ Become a member: https://explore.afikra.com/insiders
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We bring you the live recording of a panel we moderated at the media majlis museum in Doha this month. We delve into the history of memes in the Arab world with anthropologist Laure Assaf and Qatari comedian Hamad Al-Amari, where they explore their cultural significance, evolution, and impact on society. They address how memes merge cultural consumption and production, challenging orientalist tropes about Arab societies, and serving as a powerful tool for humor, satire, and political expression. Our panelists share insights into the mechanisms of virality, the role of different social media platforms, and the unique characteristics of Arab meme culture, from the Gamboo3a phenomenon to personal experiences of becoming a meme.
 
0:00 What Are Memes and What Do They Do?
3:37 The Anthropological Lens: Memes as Cultural Objects
4:56 Defining Memes
6:17 From Pedagogy to Political Satire: An Egyptian Meme Example
7:38 The Power of Memes in Consumption, Production, and Humor
9:49 Collective Identity & Understanding the Audience
10:49 Pop Culture Mashups
12:40 Case Study: the Gamboo3a 
16:29 The Evolution of the Gamboo3a Meme
21:18 Gamboo3a's Legacy in Pop Culture and Its Regional Unity
23:09 Hamad's Journey: Becoming a Meme (Twice!)
25:09 The Origins of Memes and Political Humor in the Arab World
27:01 The Algorithm and Content Virality
28:55 Regional Platform Preferences and Political Content
31:23 The Shelf Life of Arab Memes and Archiving Pop Culture
37:34 Social Backlash and Legislation: The Future of Memes
 
Hamad Al-Amari is a stand-up comedian, producer and entrepreneur born in Doha and raised in Ireland. He presents the video blog "QTips" on the iloveqatar.net website, which uses short funny videos to explain Qatar.
Connect with Hamad Al-Amari 👉 https://instagram.com/hamadalamari
Laure Assaf is an anthropologist and a specialist of Middle Eastern studies. Her research interests focus on youth, urbanity, and migration in contemporary Emirati society and the broader Gulf region. She is Assistant Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies, Anthropology and Social Research and Public Policy at NYU Abu Dhabi. She was trained in anthropology at Paris Nanterre University and in Arabic at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris. She is working on a book manuscript derived from her PhD thesis, entitled "Arab youths of Abu Dhabi: Status categories, urban sociability and the shaping of subjectivities in the United Arab Emirates (2017)". She is also an Associate Researcher at the French Center for Archeology and Social Sciences (CEFAS) in Kuwait.
Connect with Laure Assaf 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/laure-assaf-b1036442
 
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna
 
Connect directly with Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu
 
Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 
https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

FOLLOW & RATE THE MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/media-majlis-museum-podcast/id1763784587
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3p87MwQuJWOXG9X3h7NBuU
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1056900096

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl6JKXIPDF5oHzzMEc_veM2n

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
⚡ Become a member: https://explore.afikra.com/insiders
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.