Decontextualization- Memes, Viral Content and "Weird" Art
Patricia Piccinini's sculpture "Young Family" There's something I really resent about "weird" media going viral, mostly in that it loses context or becomes harder to find information about- such as original creator, or even the original unaltered video/piece itself. Rumors spread, urban legends even crop up about the content. It's interesting as a cultural phenomena but it's also kind of maddening. I especially dislike when something becomes permanently attached to a streamer, YouTube critic, or an influencer, moreso than the original creator. I also dislike the trend of YouTube videos "explaining" any media, including viral art projects. There's this ever-expanding economy of clickbait that self perpetuates and thrives on further decontextualization of everything, which has happened in part due to YouTube's own algorithms and the ongoing struggle that video creators have to be seen and get paid for their work. The tre...