Is Instagram Changing Art?

Many of us who make and appreciate art spend loads of time on Instagram. How is it changing the way we interpret and interact with art? And is it actually changing the art that gets made? Let's find out. #art #instagramart #instagram

Studies mentioned:
Budge, K. (2017), Objects in Focus: Museum Visitors and Instagram. Curator, 60: 67-85. doi:10.1111/cura.12183

Subscribe for new episodes of The Art Assignment every other Thursday, and follow us elsewhere for the full Art Assignment experience:

[kirstyhall]

Seeing art online is hugely important for me because I am a disabled artist and I'm often not well enough to travel to see shows. Of course I would love to see more art in real life but museums and galleries having a YouTube channel, a Twitter or Instagram presence means that I can remain connected with the broader art world and see shows that are otherwise inaccessible to me.

My own Instagram allows me to show people my process, the mess in my studio, work in progress and the sort of objects and images from daily life that inspire my work. It's also a powerful statement of intent and presence. I continue to exist and make work daily despite both my illness and an artworld that often renders chronically ill and disabled artists extremely invisible and unheard.

[juliariera]

I'm an art history major and I've been wanting to write a paper about the influence of instagram in museums so this video really helped!

[gjuniper]

It's fun to imagine what (decades past) influential artists' Instagrams would have looked like if Instagram existed during their times.

[filmsmedia]

"Art is Cool.
Me is cool too."
This needs to be on a tshirt.

[anawieder]

Not to mention that Instagram takes a psychological toll on artists, fostering envy for others shows, residencies, grants, and making you feel like a failure.

[PocketDeerBoy]

One thing that's always important to keep in mind is that most popular social media is constructed not so much for the users as they are for the advertisers. The advertisers are the ones giving the platform money, after all. Thus, algorithms, as time goes on, will inevitably be more and more constructed for users to view more and more ads; they're inscentivised to consume more and more of the content on the platform, so that they'll see more ads. The culture of social media is not constructed purely by the people who use it, but even moreso by the people who constructed it and what they're using it for.

I just think it's really weird that all of our online social spaces are owned and controlled by massive corporations.

[xNujeL]

this is kinda off topic but I was in an art museum the other day and I actually tried to pay attention to how everything was curated aka the location of the art pieces, the colors of the wall, etc. and asked myself why they made those choices. And that is because of you! I think you mentioned it in My Top 40 Art Reflections or some other video, so thank you for making me more aware! :)

[redpotter]

Hooray!! You're back!!! I also love how this video is somewhat of an opportunity to show off some Instagram artists, many of whom I did not know

[LucidOpticLab]

recent study shows IG users are posting less than half as much as they did 4 years ago. I know it is definitely true for me and many of the other artist I socialize with. We are sick of the algorithm nonsense

[ReachAroundStudios]

To me one of the great tragedies of Instagram, or by extension smart phones themselves, is that I have noticed a general decline or reticence to discuss the work with their peers who are sharing the same space. Prior to 2007 I found that people would be a lot more willing to sit down and talk with a stranger about what the work means to them, how it might relate to their experiences, and the pure technical aspects of what went in to producing the piece. In 2019 it seems more common that folks would rather search online for a critical response to the piece or peruse the Wikipedia article to find what they perceive to be 'the right answer' rather than suppose with those around them. Today I get many more looks when I try and talk to someone about a work of art that is directly in front of our eyes.

I've no doubt there is value in online sharing, just the same as there are challenges with it, but this one little part of the art world is something I sorely miss. I wholeheartedly share your conclusion that we might someday soon develop a more mature relationship with social media; fortunately art is something where its many forms can necessitate in-person viewing.

I love how art is expanding beyond the walls of a museum, and how museums are changing with the times to bring art to the masses.

[xsecondgox]

I have always felt like Instagram downgrades art.

[MADGuy]

I’m that weird person who take pictures in museum for memories, and for record of interesting artworks I find 😂 I also take pictures of the curatorial environment and how it helps audience to interact with artworks. Those interactions are pretty interesting.

[cubeofcheese]

I want to disagree with your statement, "Now of course seeing an image of an artwork on a phone is not as good as being there." This is definitely true in some cases but not all. For example, I created an Instagram page that documented sketches I did on the train every day. I was doing the sketches in a sketchpad, but the drawings on paper was not the final product. The final product was the Instagram collection with captions. Seeing it on the internet /is/ being there.
Similarly, a script is not the artwork. The YouTube video made from the script is the artwork and seeing that video on YouTube is the proper way to experience that art.

Thank you for this video and all the work you do.

[poop_fossil]

9:09 "wait until after the experience to share them." As someone who constantly shoots analogue film, this is actually one of the biggest draws to it for me. I always have a film camera on me and try to photograph to document my own life. Unless I specifically care about certain photos, I will usually put a finished roll into a drawer for until I have money or chemicals to process it. Then, when I actually decide to develop some, I will just grab a random handful of rolls. That way, I will get a varying mix of photos anywhere from the other day to months ago, and it's often a more enjoyable way than just viewing them right after they were taken. Many fond memories I had forgotten about had resurfaced that way. I don't do it all the time but it is often enjoyable.

[yadisfhaddad]

Great video! I think you forgot to mention one crucial way in which Instagram changes art, and it is the attention span we have towards still imagery. It has been only but shrinking since the social media era, and it affects the time devote to see artworks in real life, flattening our experience of "seeing" the work regardless of medium or technique any image an artist could render.

[redknight]

Of course there are always positives and negatives to everything. One thing I would like to mention is that art shown on a small screen of an iPad or iPhone can never be the same as seeing the actual art work. For example, take a Rothko painting. His Seagram series are huge, 3 metres X 4 meters. Seeing them shrunk down on a iPhone can only ever give you a fraction of the experience you will have when seeing them in the flesh. For years of only ever seeing his work in art books I never understand why Rothko's work was considered so great. Only when I went to see the Seagram series for myself did I get why they are masterpieces. They look so simple but when you look closer you can see that the surface has an unnerving ambiguous effect, as though you could put your hand inside the painting. I was blown away when I experienced this and could not figure out how he had managed to get that effect. Later I saw his numerous sketch books in which he spent years of experimenting on tonal shades putting thin layers of tones over the top of each other like thin curtains of colour on top of curtains. This is nothing but astounding. There is no way you can see this on a small iPad screen or book. Thus I fear that if we focus on making art specifically for the digital audience then surely it will be inevitable that we lose deeper experiences that such art can give us in favour of a more shallow quick buck experience. We will sacrifice quality for quantity. Since when has that ever been petite for human-kind? Still it seems it is inevitable. Personally I prefer to stick to trying to achieve quality over quality even though I run the risk of being wiped out not he tsunami of history. art-adamson.com

[fintanbeirne]

I just want to thank you for making me feel justified to pursuing art and making art a key component of my life. Art Assignment has taught me that the art industry is a real thing and it exists in so many places where one might not expect.

[amician]

Your videos always make me think beyond the boundaries of my own art practice and very limited local 'art scene'. I think that is good for all of us, not just artists and art enthusiasts. Thank you for that.

[danielbeauchamp]

I was JUST researching this. Thank you for the timely video!