'I Came I Saw I Selfied': How Instagram Transformed The Way We Experience Art : NPR
Arielle Pardes
' I Came   I Saw   I Selfied ': How Instagram Transformed The Way We Experience Art Enlarge this image toggle caption Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images You are suspended in an endless dark chamber as thousands of red   green   yellow and blue lights flicker across the air like tiny diamonds in the sky . Or at least that ' s how it appears in the selfie you just posted on Instagram . Yayoi Kusama ' s " Infinity Mirrors " – mirror - lined rooms that seem to go on forever – is part of the latest art craze to take over social media . Immersive exhibits are driving people to museums in search of the perfect snapshot . Arielle Pardes   senior associate editor of technology and culture at Wired   tells Here & Now ' s Jeremy Hobson that the explosion of " made - for - Instagram " art exhibits is creating a market for art that is intended to be reinterpreted by people online . " You can sort of skip that whole first part where you have an artistic process and an artistic critique of something   and just go straight to the selfie by building a space that exists primarily for replication online  " she says . In a TED Talk last year on " Art in the Age of Instagram  " JiaJia Fei   director of digital at the Jewish Museum of New York   highlights the ascendance of " Instagrammable " exhibitions since the social media platform launched in 2010 . " You think of Yayoi Kusama and her Infinity Mirrored Room ... and then artists like James Turrell or the Rain Room at MoMA  " she said in the TED Talk . " These are artists who really have very critical bodies of work   but [ created installations ] that have taken on new meaning because of social media ." Many of the masterminds behind these exhibits admit that creating social - media - worthy art was a key goal . In San Francisco   the 12   000 - square - foot Color Factory features a pit filled with 207   000 plastic yellow balls   a giant Lite - Brite game and a life - size coloring book . " Our goal was that every exhibit be three things  " founder Jordan Ferney told the San Francisco Chronicle . " It would be conceptual ; very photogenic and do well on social media ; and be an experience that you couldn ' t get anywhere else ." Across the country in Washington   D . C .  the interactive " sensory art experiences " at Artechouse seem tailor - made for Instagram . But the art and technology museum ' s founders deny social media played a role in their process   despite the fact the museum has been tagged in more than 25   000 Instagram posts since it opened in June . " There are people who would like to come tell a story  " Artechouse co - founder Tati Pastukhova told The Washington Post in November   somewhat acknowledging Instagram as a main driver for the museum ' s more than 65   000 visitors . The deeply engaging quality of this art lends itself to social media because it allows the viewer to have a stake in the artistic process   Pardes says . " Part of it has to do with the fact that these exhibits are very very immersive   so you can go to it  " she says . " And rather than just sort of staring at a piece of art on the wall   you actually become a part of the art ." While the hunt for the perfect Instagram photo is driving a lot of people into art museums   Pardes says some museum curators argue that can distract from thinking critically about art . " If you ' re expecting that you go into this space and you get a great photo ... and you get to show people that you were there   then maybe that ' s not exactly what the artist had intended  " she says .  Pardes  also argues the art in these exhibits takes on a different meaning when  it  is blurred by commercial interests . Before the New York location of the Museum of Ice Cream closed for the season earlier this year   30 sponsors paid to have their brands featured . " Tinderland  " a section of the exhibit sponsored by the dating app Tinder   prompted people to discover their " true flavor match ." This potential divide among artists and consumers illustrates how social media has influenced our behavior . Pardes says even restaurants and retail spaces are redesigning their spaces to make them more appealing for social media . " In the pre - digital photography era   the message was : This is what I ' m seeing . I have seen  " Fei said in her TED Talk . " Today   the message was : I was there . I came   I saw   and I selfied ."
' I Came   I Saw   I Selfied ': How Instagram Transformed The Way We Experience Art Enlarge this image toggle caption Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images You are suspended in an endless dark chamber as thousands of red   green   yellow and blue lights flicker across the air like tiny diamonds in the sky . Or at least that ' s how it appears in the selfie you just posted on Instagram . Yayoi Kusama ' s " Infinity Mirrors " – mirror - lined rooms that seem to go on forever – is part of the latest art craze to take over social media . Immersive exhibits are driving people to museums in search of the perfect snapshot . Arielle Pardes   senior associate editor of technology and culture at Wired   tells Here & Now ' s Jeremy Hobson that the explosion of " made - for - Instagram " art exhibits is creating a market for art that is intended to be reinterpreted by people online . " You can sort of skip that whole first part where you have an artistic process and an artistic critique of something   and just go straight to the selfie by building a space that exists primarily for replication online  " she says . In a TED Talk last year on " Art in the Age of Instagram  " JiaJia Fei   director of digital at the Jewish Museum of New York   highlights the ascendance of " Instagrammable " exhibitions since the social media platform launched in 2010 . " You think of Yayoi Kusama and her Infinity Mirrored Room ... and then artists like James Turrell or the Rain Room at MoMA  " she said in the TED Talk . " These are artists who really have very critical bodies of work   but [ created installations ] that have taken on new meaning because of social media ." Many of the masterminds behind these exhibits admit that creating social - media - worthy art was a key goal . In San Francisco   the 12   000 - square - foot Color Factory features a pit filled with 207   000 plastic yellow balls   a giant Lite - Brite game and a life - size coloring book . " Our goal was that every exhibit be three things  " founder Jordan Ferney told the San Francisco Chronicle . " It would be conceptual ; very photogenic and do well on social media ; and be an experience that you couldn ' t get anywhere else ." Across the country in Washington   D . C .  the interactive " sensory art experiences " at Artechouse seem tailor - made for Instagram . But the art and technology museum ' s founders deny social media played a role in their process   despite the fact the museum has been tagged in more than 25   000 Instagram posts since it opened in June . " There are people who would like to come tell a story  " Artechouse co - founder Tati Pastukhova told The Washington Post in November   somewhat acknowledging Instagram as a main driver for the museum ' s more than 65   000 visitors . The deeply engaging quality of this art lends itself to social media because it allows the viewer to have a stake in the artistic process   [TGT] says . " Part of it has to do with the fact that these exhibits are very very immersive   so you can go to it  " she says . " And rather than just sort of staring at a piece of art on the wall   you actually become a part of the art ." While the hunt for the perfect Instagram photo is driving a lot of people into art museums   [TGT] says some museum curators argue that can distract from thinking critically about art . " If you ' re expecting that you go into this space and you get a great photo ... and you get to show people that you were there   then maybe that ' s not exactly what the artist had intended  " she says .  [TGT]also argues the art in these exhibits takes on a different meaning when  [TGT]  is blurred by commercial interests . Before the New York location of the Museum of Ice Cream closed for the season earlier this year   30 sponsors paid to have their brands featured . " Tinderland  " a section of the exhibit sponsored by the dating app Tinder   prompted people to discover their " true flavor match ." This potential divide among artists and consumers illustrates how social media has influenced our behavior . [TGT] says even restaurants and retail spaces are redesigning their spaces to make them more appealing for social media . " In the pre - digital photography era   the message was : This is what I ' m seeing . I have seen  " Fei said in her TED Talk . " Today   the message was : I was there . I came   I saw   and I selfied ."