During the months of coronavirus lockdown, we were inundated with a stream of jokes, videos, and memes. WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram were filled with jokes hoping to put a smile on people's faces and dispel, if even for a short time, the depression and sense of crisis caused by the pandemic, with its accompanying social isolation and economic hardships. Many WhatsApp and Facebook groups were created by professionals from the health and care professions who sought to lighten their difficult routine and offer participants moments of laughter and solidarity.
The messages, like the virus itself, were infectious. They spread via cellphones from group to group, from person to person, seemingly unstoppable. Multiplying exponentially, they helped us cope with the insecurity, loneliness, and despair many of us felt. They inspired optimism and hope for easier, more carefree days.
This exhibition presents these jokes and memes, with most of which the viewer can probably identify. In this difficult time – faced with a reality of uncertainty, anxiety, and economic fears – laughter and humor protect us and restore our sanity. They can unite us into one group with a shared purpose: we all seek hope and a smile.
The exhibition also raises questions, such as: Which is the true virus? Could it be that while trying to eradicate one disease, we have transmitted another – the contagious virus of addiction to phone screens and messages? Could it be that while we are protecting ourselves from a physical illness, we are actively spreading another contagion – one of the mind? And could this be an epidemic no less significant, one that will remain long after the coronavirus pandemic subsides?