Memes and totems

The author’s term tomem combines two expressions – totem and meme. The pun targets the language of universal-global terms, shared histories and subconscious Western archetypes. A totem represents a mental or physical object symbolizing a mythical ancestor or cultural affiliation to a specific tribal bond. It is considered a symbolic expression of the group as a whole, and totemism is often cited as the oldest form of religion. A meme is one of the most frequented and yet ephemeral units of today, most often interpreted as a term replicating a unit of cultural information.

Formally, the cycle is defined by the variability and variety of materials. Heaviness mixes with lightness, rigidity with fragility, sculpture with painting. Representativeness alternates with cheapness, the controlled effects of technological contingency. Tomes are based more on multiplied entropic series than on definitive originals. The author’s alibi reveals works with references to civilizational forms desecrated by age, vanished cultural epochs and disappearing – not symbiosis, but on the contrary discord with nature. Defeated by monuments made of concrete composites above the surface of plastic oceans, it waits in the reflection of digital screens for its moment – to return the kingdom of animals to all but humans. Failure as a necessary outcome of everyone in a time of unsustainable experiment.