It is quite amazing what memes can do. Their prowess is limited only by our imagination. Sceptics might say that they begin and end with our imagination, but meme-mongers would counter-argue that that was the whole point. Memes morph, and there's an end of it. And the end justifies the memes. From Ars Electronica, a sparky, cheeky kind of site:

In this interview especially for Ars Electronica 96, art critic and cultural theorist Nova Delahunty spoke with gashgirl, Josephine Starrs and Julianne Pierce, members of the Australian computer art group VNS Matrix.

Nova: In 1991 you created the image A cyberfeminist manifesto for the 21st century. It was one of the first appearances of the word "cyberfeminism". How do you think that cyberfeminism has developed as a "meme"?

Julianne: At the same time as we started using the concept of cyberfeminism, it also began to appear in other parts of the world. It was like a spontaneous meme which emerged at around the same time, as a response to ideas like "cyberpunk" which were popular at the time. Since then the meme has spread rapidly and is certainly an idea which has been embraced by many women who are engaged with techno theory and practice. What is great about the cyberfeminist meme is that it is totally adaptable and flexible. When we created the cyberfeminist manifesto we certainly didn’t prescribe any doctrine – it was a vehicle for us to make statements about our work, and comments on technology. The concept has grown and expanded as many different people develop the ideas of cyberfeminism – the meme ebbs and flows as it is shaped by artists, writers, theorists and even publishers. I think also that is important as a "feminism". Having become quite unfashionable in the last few years, feminism has been re-shaped by cyberfeminism into a contemporary mould. Feminism does really need to adapt and change to contemporary thought, and cyberfeminism has put issues which are important to women on the techno-agenda. Many women find it a useful tool to engage with and critique technology. Cyberfeminists are not anti-technology, on the contrary, they are technophiles and geeks who can’t get enough of their machines.

Nova: The central image of A cyberfeminist manifesto … is a hybrid figure – half crustacean, half woman – what do you think this image says of evolution, and how does it reflect your vision of the future?

Julianne: This image, which we call "pod woman", is more metaphorical than literal. Her defiant naked torso is joined to a bug-like creature, she is almost an inversion of the minotaur, instead of a horse’s head she has a crustacean’s body. This image arose out of the process of trying to represent what "future woman" would be. We created it for a billboard which was displayed for one month on one of Sydney’s busiest roads. We were intrigued by advertising images, and how women are represented in these sites, with particularly interest in how the vision of "futuristic" female is portrayed through the media and advertising. We wanted to subvert the image of the fembot, with her perfectly rounded chrom-plated arse. Thus "pod-woman" is both a comment on the construction of the fetishised female figure and an attempt to create a bold, strong image of future woman. She is also a statement on genetic manipulation, and possible aberrant couplings which may occur in the laboratories of kinky genetic scientists. With genetic alteration and splicing anything may occur, why stop at the super-pig, why not create strange and unusual couplings, imagination is everything.

Memes should not be confused with mimes, although perhaps they could be in our dremes.