Meme making as Artistic Practice

Cem A. is an artist and curator with a background in anthropology. He is known for running the art meme page @freeze_magazine. Since its inception in 2019, @freeze_magazine has become a tool for creative collaborations between Cem and fellow artists, researchers and organisations. His memes explore topics such as survival and alienation in the art world, often through a hyper-reflexive lens.

Selected exhibitions include documenta fifteen, Kassel (2022) and solo exhibitions Hope You See Me as a Friend at Barbican Centre, London (2022); Pleased to Announce… at Versus Art Project, Istanbul (2022) and The Party at Weserhalle, Berlin (2021). He has held lectures at HeK Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel; Universität der Künste, Berlin; Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins, London. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Art Newspaper and Dazed Magazine.

Christina Tente is a PhD candidate in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Gothenburg in collaboration with the Hasselblad Foundation. Her academic background includes Journalism & Media Studies (BA, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Film & Cultural Studies (MA, University of Athens), and Visual Culture (MA, Lund University). Her doctoral research involves photographic approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on media photography, non-human photography (drones, CCTV), and photo-based Internet memes. Apart from photography, Christina’s research interests also include posthuman feminism, dance studies, film studies, and transspecies interactions. She has been involved in feminist reading circles and was the co-organiser of Feministcafé Ronja in Lund between 2018-2020. She has previously worked as a journalist and as press assistant, collaborating with various cultural organisations in Greece and Sweden, such as Ethnofest and Athens International Film Festival.