Memememememe is now open at The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar. The show runs to 4 December 2025. It examines how internet memes influence culture. It treats memes as signals, not throwaway jokes.
The frame is simple: Mass, Length, Time, and Volume. The Doha venue opens 10:00–20:00, Sunday to Thursday.
What is Mememememememe?
This is the 10th exhibition at the Media Majlis, marking the museum’s 5th anniversary. It studies the spread of memes and how they affect public talk.
- Venue: The Media Majlis Museum, Northwestern University in Qatar, Education City, Doha
- Dates: now to 4 December 2025
- Hours: Sunday–Thursday, 10:00–20:00 AST (11:00–21:00 GST for UAE readers)
- Curators: Jack Thomas Taylor and Amal Zeyad Ali
The curatorial lens consists of four “measures” — Mass, Length, Time, and Volume — which keep the focus on scale, movement, speed, and reach. Instead of a wall of funny images, you get a map of how memes move across people, platforms, and moments.
Why memes and why now?
Memes act like quick, visual speech. They travel fast. They compress news, jokes, and anger into a few pixels. The show treats them as cultural tools.
- Memes function as mass media and critique
- Visual tactics repeat across history, only the medium shifts
- The show asks how these signals shape shared views
Memes occupy the space between personal posts and public talk. The exhibition argues they are not noise. They are part of how we understand events. Even as people try to count views and likes, memes resist being measured cleanly. That tension is at the heart of the show.
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The exhibition design and key works
The scenography comes from Shepherd Studio in Bahrain. They turn the space into a laundromat metaphor for the constant cycle of meme-making and remixing. It is clear, strange, and fitting.
- Scenography: Shepherd Studio, Bahrain
- Newly commissioned works by: Alia Leonardi, Anne Horel, Cem A., Eman Makki, Mauro C. Martinez, Orkhan Mammadov, Seo Hyojung
- Interactive highlights: a photobooth by Andreas Refsgaard; Narrative Laundry by Adnan Aga
- Collaboration: content developed with Superposition (Netherlands)
Visitors meet works from artists across Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and beyond. The Refsgaard photobooth invites playful input. Narrative Laundry by Adnan Aga turns the churn of online stories into a live, digital scene. The commissions look at digital memory, identity, and dissent. The result is a set of clear questions: what sticks, what fades, and who decides?
Who is behind it?
A curator and an assistant curator with deep regional work lead the show.
- Jack Thomas Taylor: curator of art, media, and technology at the Museum, working across the Gulf since 2009
- Amal Zeyad Ali: assistant curator; previous roles include programmes and curatorial work at the Media Majlis and at Qatar Museums’ Fire Station
- Institutional lead: The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar
Taylor frames memes as heirs to older visual tactics. Ali’s practice centres on question-led themes and inclusive views. Together, they build a show that treats meme culture as a serious subject, without losing sight of humour.
Visiting from the UAE
For readers in the UAE, the trip is simple and the hours are workable. There is no Friday or Saturday opening listed.
- Hours in Doha: 10:00–20:00 AST, Sunday–Thursday
- Hours for UAE readers: 11:00–21:00 GST, Sunday–Thursday
- Location: The Media Majlis Museum, Northwestern University in Qatar, Education City
- Plan your visit: https://mediamajlis.northwestern.edu/en
Check the museum’s site before you go for any updates on access, campus entry, or special events. The show sits within a university museum that focuses on journalism, communication, and media in the Arab world.
About the Media Majlis Museum
The Media Majlis is the first university museum in the Arab world focused on journalism, communication, and media. Since Spring 2019, it has run exhibitions and programmes that look at language, identity, and technology in media.
- Opened: 2019; accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 2022
- Focus: journalism, communication, media
- Role: a platform for timely, research-led shows with a Global South view
The museum blends exhibitions, publications, and events. It partners with institutions and technologists worldwide, drawing on the faculty and students of Northwestern Qatar.
FAQs
How long does Mememememememe run and what are the hours?
It runs to 4 December 2025. The museum opens Sunday–Thursday, 10:00–20:00 AST
Where is the exhibition and how can I plan my visit?
It is at The Media Majlis Museum on Northwestern University in Qatar’s campus in Education City, Doha. Start here: https://mediamajlis.northwestern.edu/en
Which artists and studios are featured?
Newly commissioned works come from Alia Leonardi, Anne Horel, Cem A., Eman Makki, Mauro C. Martinez, Orkhan Mammadov, and Seo Hyojung. Highlights include an interactive photobooth by Andreas Refsgaard and Narrative Laundry by Adnan Aga. Scenography is by Shepherd Studio; Superposition collaborated on content.
