Museum memes

Abstract

Internet memes are a culturally significant aspect of digital media and communication. Many memes draw on themes and sources from museums, including specific objects and images. This has significance for museums’ digital communications and audience development, presenting not only opportunities for engagement but also reputational risks. This article presents a brief overview of relevant scholarship in memetic media to introduce some key definitions and dynamics of internet memes. Following this, it explores three brief case studies of ‘museum memes’ to illustrate some of these concepts. Finally, it considers how museums and heritage institutions might respond to popular memes and how heritage scholars might begin to approach memes as research subjects.