'Absolute unit' meme on show in museum first

An online meme that quickly went viral is the first "digitally born object" to go on display at the National Science and Media Museum.

The "absolute unit" meme was seen by millions after being created by staff at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading in 2018.

It features a photo of an Exmoor Horn ram taken in 1962 which is from the museum's collection, and has the caption "look at this absolute unit".

Dr Ruth Quinn from the National Science and Media Museum said the meme was being exhibited in Bradford as it was "such an important part of popular culture".

Memes are described by the museum as forms of digital content that are often intended to be funny and shared rapidly online, particularly across social media.

The museum has been working alongside Dr Arran Rees from the University of Leeds to look at ways to collect and display social media memes, reflecting their broader cultural heritage.

Dr Quinn said: "I even have it (the meme) printed on a mug so I'm delighted that we were able to work with Dr Arran Rees to develop a method for collecting and displaying social media, so we can share this work with our visitors in an interactive way."

A museum spokesperson said that, as the first born-digital object it had acquired, the meme was an example of how internet culture could create second, unexpected lives for images long after they were first created.

They said the meme told the story of a photograph from negative and print, through to digital reproduction, social media circulation and subsequent new variants.

"The inclusion of the 'absolute unit' meme marks a milestone in the museum in embracing the evolving relationship between photography and the digital age", they added.

The meme will be on display when the museum reopens to visitors on 8 January. It has been closed since summer 2023 for a major refurbishment.

It will be displayed on an interactive touch screen in the museum's Kodak gallery, which looks at the broader history of hundreds of years of photographic technology.

Visitors will be able to scroll as if encountering the meme on their own social media feeds and they will also be able to see a number of responses from social media users.

A reopening event will take place at the museum on Saturday 11 January, with the new Sound and Vision galleries, showcasing all aspects of the museum's collection, opening in summer 2025.

The £6m Sound and Vision Project has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Bradford Council and the Science Museum Group.

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