World’s first meme museum brought to life by K11 Art Mall and 9GAG

K11 Art Mall has worked with world-renowned meme platform 9GAG to launch an online-to-offline meme Museum, showcasing some of the most viral and humorous memes of all time at the shopping centre located at Tsim Sha Tsui.  In this collaboration, K11 Art Mall and 9GAG have chosen more than 100 viral memes from Hong Kong and around the globe, bringing them to the physical world to amuse visitors. 

The meme museum consists of seven themed zones, each showcasing famed memes from different periods in various forms such as imagery, 3D figures and even scent, allowing visitors to review some of the most humorous memes from the classic Saltbae to Swole Doge. The museum also features AR technology. Popular memes such as Confused Nick Young and Side Eyeing Chloe can now be realised on digital devices. 

The first zone is "In the Meme-time - an Instagrammable Meme Time Tunnel", showcasing 24 classic memes spanning from the 1960s to the present day, “In the Meme-time” lets visitors relive meme masterpieces for more than five decades, from Success Kid, Distracted Boyfriend to Woman Yelling at a Cat.

Secondly, "Meme-go-round - 78 Memes to Transport You Around the World", is a rotating display that takes visitors around the world in 78 frames of global and local memes. Divided into five themes, visitors can check out the ones that play on authentic Hong Kong-style jokes, international celeb gags or animated classics.

Zone three "Meme Me - HK’s First Instant Meme Photobooth" offers visitors an opportunity to become the main character of their favourite meme via the four-grid Snapio photobooth. They can select a scene background to produce their very own meme and share it with friends.

The “Beyond the Meme” zone adds an interactive visual dimension as well as an olfactory element to the previously 2-D meme that comes in text or image format. Coupled with AR technology, the museum enables visitors to physically explore and experience the magic and wonder of memes with their senses. For the first time, exclusive scent pairing for each meme is introduced to immerse visitors in the ultimate meme experience.

The remaining zones boast a tattoo station that visitors can imprint their favourite meme on their body, a non-fungible tokens (NFT) artwork for auction, and an area showcasing memes created by the public. 

The museum offers a limited-edition Meme Yes!Cards. As Yes!Card celebrates its 30th anniversary, K11 Art Mall reinvents the iconic pop culture by transforming Yes!Cards into meme Cards. Visitors can scan the QR code on the back of your Yes!Card for a chance to win a shopping spree worth HK$200. There are Yes!Card machines on various floors at K11 Art Mall too.

With non-fungible tokens (NTF) gaining traction, K11 Art Mall has launched in collaboration with 9GAG the world’s first meme NFT artwork, titled In Meme We Love. A collage consisting of more than the 100 most viral memes charts the history and evolution of memes, and is indicative of the full spectrum of emotions tacitly understood only by internet users. When people look closely, they can find the K11 Logo and the 9GAG founders among the meme wall of fame.

This NFT artwork will be displayed at the MEME museum at K11 Art Mall, and it will be auctioned off on the trading platform Foundation starting mid-July.