Hello, Digital Culture thinkers! Thrilled to share this recent publication by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam (INC) - *The Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality* (edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz). The INC Reader series is derived from the Institute’s conference contributions and ties together many academic and non-academic thinkers dealing with the (political) power of memes beyond virtual images. This collection emphasizes the ability of memes to serve as tactical “weapons” in times of conflict. The multimodal novelty of memes has proven its efficiency in mobilizing people in events like the Capitol riots, sparking memetic violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and playing a substantial information delivery role in the war in Ukraine. It seems that in times of conflict, memetic warfare becomes more immediate and accessible than real-life demonstrations, and the distinction between the virtual and ‘real life’ no longer applies, or perhaps was never there? This collection delves into the current events that have driven the spread of memetic responses through digital infrastructures, policies, regulations, and bodies. Furthermore, this collection envisions the concept of "memetic tacticality" as a catalyst of a cultural revolution and raises important questions such as what kind of labor would require to materialize this reality? What kind of tools and principles would we need? And what if the memetic logic of spreading information were applied to promote the dissemination of progressive ideas that could pave the way for a better future? Get the full book here (PDF): https://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Critical-Meme-Reader-... *Book Content:* Preface / Geert Lovink Introduction / Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz *Part 1: MEMETIC AMMUNITION* # Political Meme Toolkit: Leftist Dutch Meme Makers Share Their Trade Secrets / Chloë Arkenbout # Benevolent Edgelords: Specters of Benjamin and Memetic Ambiguity / Pierre d’Alancaisez # Semiotics of Care and Violence: Memetization and Necropolitics During the Brazilian 2018 Presidential Elections in the Action #MarielleMultiplica / Isabel Lögfren *Part 2: SUBVERSIVE MEMES TO THE RESCUE* # ‘Let’s Go Baby Forklift’: Fandom Governance in China within the Covid-19 76 Crisis / Jamie Wong # Playful Publics on TikTok: The Memetic Israeli-Palestinian War of #Challenge / Tom Divon # Memes as Schemes: Dissecting the Role of Memes in Mobilizing Mobs 106 and Political Violence / Bhumika Bhattacharyya # Like a Virus / Daniel de Zeeuw, Tommaso Campagna, Eleni Maragkou, Jesper Lust and Cwarlo De Gaetano *Part 3: MEMES AND (MENTAL) LABOR* # I’m Not Lonely, I Have Memes: The Cognitive (Disembodied) Experience of 140 Depression Memes / Laurence Scherz # EVERY MEME MAKER WE KNOW IS EXHAUSTED / Anahita Neghabat and Caren Miesenberger # Not Like Other #Girlbosses: Gender, Work & the #Gatekeeping of Meme Capital / Christine H. Tran *Part 4: A WORLD CRITICIZED THROUGH MEMES* # Memes in the Gallery: A Party Inside an Image Ecology / Marijn Bril Get in Loser # We’re Criticizing the Art World: Memes as the New Institutional / Critique Manique Hendricks # The Rise and Fall of Web4U (2033-2063) / Jasmine Erkan and Emma Damiani # Oprah Memes, or Dis-articulations of Affect / Katrin Köppert # Speculate — or Else! Blockchain Memes on Survival in Radical Uncertainty / Inte Gloerich *Part 5: AT THE END OF THE ROAD, THERE’S MEMES* # Memeing Reading // Reading Memeing / Jordi Viader Guerrero # You’ll Never Feel Alone — Thoughts on Relatability / Florian Schlittgen # The Promise of Memes: The Case of Fotonski Torpedo / Mariana Manousopoulou # ‘Then We Could Explore Space, Together, Forever’: On Hope and Memes / Savriël Dillingh