MEMETIME

MEMETIME

The Visual History of Internet Culture

1996 → today

scroll to enter the archive
Netscape — wELcOmE 2 mY hOmEpAgE

~*~ WeLcOmE 2 mY CoRnEr oF tHe WeB ~*~

** UNDER CONSTRUCTION **

YOU ARE VISITOR 00001337

sign my guestbook · cool links · my cat

best viewed in Netscape Navigator at 800×600

baby2.gif — Netscape

baby2.gif — 404 Not Found

Dial-Up Networking

Connecting to 1996 at 28.8 kbps…

hampsterdance.com — Netscape

♪ dee da dee da do do ♪

1999 · 17 million visitors on dial-up

All Your Base Are Belong To Us — Zero Wing intro screenshot

CATS:

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME.

ZERO WING — SEGA MEGA DRIVE — 1991 / MEME 2001

Dancing Baby — the 1996 animation
specimen 001 · baby_cha.gif · c. 1996Dancing BabyA 3D infant doing the cha-cha, rendered as an Autodesk demo and forwarded inbox to inbox until the whole world had seen it. The first thing the internet ever made famous.
hall i / stratum 1996–2004The Early InternetHand-built homepages, dial-up tones, and animations the size of a floppy disk.
connection: 28.8 kbps · stratum i
MySpace — a place for friends

Tom is your friend!
“Thanks for the add!”

myspace · 2004 · everyone’s first friend
YouTube — Broadcast Yourself™

upload complete: keyboard_cat.avi

processing… 240p · views so far: 3

thefacebook — login

⚑ new friend request

1 of 4,302 people you may know

flickr — your photos
twttr — what are you doing?
hall ii / stratum 2004–2008The Social Web EmergesBroadband arrives and the wires light up. Platforms multiply, windows stack on windows, and the audience becomes the author. Collect them all.
user-generated content detected · volume rising
seismic event · every 12s · do the shake

wow

doge · 2010 · Tumblr / Reddit
hall iii / stratum 2010–2014The Meme BoomSmartphones in every pocket, image macros in every feed. Internet culture stops being a place you visit and becomes the weather.
volume rising · stratum iii
wowsuch memevery internetmuch historyso culturemany years
monument · doge · 2010 → forever

hover an orbiting phrase · drag to rotate the chamber · click the monument

chamber / monument 001The Doge ChamberSome memes pass through culture. A few become architecture. The chamber rotates so every pilgrim sees the same dog from a different angle.
laboratory / internet dnaMeme Evolution LabEvery meme descends from another. Pan the slide, zoom with the bench controls, and click a specimen to read its genome.
drag to pan · click a node to inspect
simulation / patient zeroViral Spread SimulatorEvery meme is an outbreak. Choose a specimen, release it on its home platform, and watch the infection travel the old routes.
4chan
Reddit
Tumblr
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
reach 0%platforms 0/8
epidemic model · patient zero: tumblr
terrain / cultural footprintPopularity LandscapeHeight is attention. Drag through thirty years and watch the range change: peaks erode, dead ranges fade, revived ones glow again.
2013
drag through time · click a peak to inspect
hall iv / stratum 2015–2019Memes Become LanguageTemplates replace sentences. The image stays; the captions cycle until the joke is a corpse — then the corpse becomes the joke.
remix machine · cycle time 3s · stratum iv
@among-us · 2020
POV: you opened the app for one minute
@wojak · 2018
BERNIE · mittens · inauguration · 2021
⏵ sound on 🔊 wait for it…
@skibidi-toilet · 2024
NPC streamers say gang gang
@distracted-boyfriend · 2017
girl explaining » nobody listening
@dogecoin · 2021
shrimp jesus has entered the feed
@npc-wojak · 2018
this meme is already dead
@ai-memes · 2025
FOR YOU · FOR YOU · FOR YOU
hall v / stratum 2020–2026The Fast InternetThe feed never ends and neither does the exhibit. Memes now live for a weekend; the algorithm is the curator.
attention span: 1.7s · autoplay: always
memorial / the quiet wingThe Meme GraveyardNothing here is forgotten — just finished. Tap a stone to pay respects; the ghosts come out on their own schedule.
silence please · f to pay respects
ancient web
video memes
image macros
reaction district
crypto quarter
tiktok district

You have traveled through 30 years of internet culture.

finale / the city of memesInternet Culture SkylineEvery building is a meme; every district an era. The taller the tower, the harder we all looked at it. Click any building to enter.