Memesthetics: The Eternal September of Art

A history of the internet meme told through its relation to art, tracing a path the publisher describes as running from Duchamp to TikTok.

Tanni examines how internet memes, GIFs, photoshopping and social media practices connect to the historical avant-garde and to modernist and postmodernist art theory. She also considers how digital culture has changed traditional art institutions. NERO presents it as the first book to draw a comprehensive map of the relationship between the visual arts and digital culture since the early 2000s. The English edition, 268 pages in an 11 × 17 cm format, appeared in 2024.

Valentina Tanni is an art historian and curator who works where art and technology meet, and who teaches digital art and internet culture studies at institutions in Milan and Rome. The book was first published in Italian as Memestetica, with a second Italian edition issued later.