PAY ATTENTI
We are calling on YOU to see this wash of image + information and read it back for us. This project is a hopeful venture. We know there are others like us, but we have never had a venue through which to think and exchange. ATTENTION(S) is a platform for you to contribute to the collective reading of this meme language.
We call far and wide for contributions to the online and print volumes of this zine. If you spend time enjoying and thinking about memes, we need your creative intellect.
1. Quick Reposts:
(1)Image/Video, (2200) Characters
Choose a meme, a viral image or video, and reflect on the important underlying cultural dimensions that make it work. Give us context and lenses through which to understand why this image is so powerful to us—what does it tap into? why does it resonate? what do we share through it? what does it help us see about our world, each other, and/or the systems of culture in which we exist? These might be new or old, but they are likely of the moment in a way they held our collective attention for a little while. Write about this in no more than 2200 characters (the limit for Instagram captions).
2. Extended Pauses:
(1)Image/Video,(500–1500) Words
Choose a meme, viral image or video that lingers for you or on which you have more extended thoughts. Unfold your readings of this image with increased critical thought. It would be helpful here if you can cite someone’s writing or creative work who helps you think through this. These short essays are more scholarly and argumentative (but by no means stiff and distant); they make claims about how memes (and this particular meme) describe more general features of being alive in the 21st Century. They allow us into your critical thinking with more context and detail. Write about this is around 1000 words (more or less is completely acceptable).
3. Slow Burns:
(1)Image/Video, (3000-4000) Words
Choose a meme, viral image or video that has stayed with you, or that cyclically returns to you (or us), over a long period of time (or otherwise, you have a lot to say about it). Help us trace the many vectors through which this image has charged our collective imaginations about culture, society, technology, or otherwise. Use the image as a tool through which to make critical scholarly arguments couched in the writing or creative work of others—extend their thoughts/work through your chosen image. Write about this in as many words as you like (we imagine these to be 3000-4000 words).
which to feed this memetic beast is Instagram.