Social Media and Art Galleries/Museums

 

Social Media and Art Galleries/Museums

By Brian Parker Durnil

In an age of growing technology, and age of COVID-19, the main constant is change. When I say change, I am talking about society, people, and the interactions we have within our ever-changing world. As technology has slowly been evolving, so has having a social media presence. I am fairly certain, a lot of people have at least one social media account that they frequently use, whether it is a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, just to name a few of the most commonly used social platforms and needless to say, social media is definitely beneficial, but also very intimidating.

Social media has changed a lot in how we experience art, from crossing borders and interacting with audience members that were otherwise unreachable, to creating moments for the audience to interact with their audience. An example of this would be in Jenner Sokolowsky’s article in the Seattle Times. In this article she talks a lot about how social media has an impact on art institutions and visitors alike, influencing not just the market, but also the creation, as well as the curation of art. An example would be in Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirror exhibit back in 2017 in the Seattle Art Museum. With the use of social media, Kusama’s art began popping up on social media feeds with eye catching installations, and highly photographable visuals in the exhibition, which soon became a very popular art event for that summer. Even Catharina Manchanda quoted in the article “Social Media can be an incredible tool for generating excitement about an exhibition if it captivates people’s imagination.”

 

Yayoi Kusama’s “The Obliteration Room” at the Seattle Art Museum

Another way that social media has changed the art world is because the audience themselves are also changing and so has the use of technology. So, museums and galleries must adapt to their changing audience. As the younger generation continuously keep growing, so does the use of social media. Nowadays it is often very rare to find people who do not have a social media presence of some kind. In fact, a lot of people already have a social media presence on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, just to name a few, and with technology being so far advanced, people are often carrying around a smartphone that is basically like a pocket sized computer that creates instant access to all these social media platforms. Combining social media with smartphones, people often use social media to share their experiences, which can create more foot traffic for these institutions. In another article by Ben Luke, Massimiliano Gioni, the art director for the New Museum in New York states his fascination with how “the visitors have become not just a participant, but also as the labor that keeps the machine running.” Meaning the audience are immersing themselves as part of the artwork instead of just observing and providing more foot traffic for the museum by going to their friends or posting online about their experience.

However, that can also be hurtful to the institutions. With apps like Twitter, and Instagram, the user or artist has been given the ability to bypass the use of art critics, and gallery representation because these apps themselves have become, in a sense, a gallery for the public. Artist from all over the country can upload photos of their work, show the process, and even sell their work. In short social media has made it easier for any artist to get recognition and funding for their work. With social media links it’s easy for the audience to share videos, drawings, or paintings that they enjoy with others and in turn it’s easier for the artist to interact with their viewers for any news or upcoming projects that the artist might have in store. It basically bridges the gap between the artist, and their respected patrons. This method is also applicable to museums. Museums and galleries have the same capabilities, as well as opportunities, to utilize social media to interact with their audience and some of them have. The article by Aimee Dawson shows a, somewhat, recent listing of the different museums that have a large following of viewers on various social media sites. It goes to show how having a big presence on social media can benefit them.

In contrast, there are a few disadvantages that come along with social media. One of the biggest things about using social media as a platform to showcase yourself, whether you are an institute or an individual artist trying to get discovered, is that social relies heavily on your presence on these platforms. For individual artists, they may have the creative freedom to post what they want, but if your presence is small then 9 times out of 10 your name will get lost in the crowd and becomes difficult for the individual to gain funding. Not to say that individuals, or institutes will not be discovered or recognized, it just means that it sometimes takes a lot of work to build up a following. Which means, both parties must be “social” if they intend to build the following.

Another problem that exists with social media is getting lost in trying to navigate to a specific work. With so many hashtags that go around on social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter, it is easy to get lost in the works of other artists or institutions, and not understanding how social media works can also put artists, as well as institutions, at a significant disadvantage when competing for the attention of their audience. Not to mention, it can be very easy to obtain a negative presence on social media. If the artist comes off as ill mannered, or rude to their audience, that information can spread like wildfire among the social platforms, and can cause major problems for both the artist and the supporting institute that is hosting said artist. Therefore, gaining bad reviews and ultimately a bad reputation. So, the reality of social media is that it really depends on how it used by both the artist and the institute.

An example would be with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the article in the article from the School of Information and Communication, the authors Yu-Chang Li, Alan Wee-Chung Liew, and Wen-Poh Su, state in the article some disadvantages the Metropolitan Museum of Art has had with social media, such as how the museum is becoming more isolated and functionless without participants. Like with the graph from Aimee Dawson’s article, this also demonstrates that having a social media following does not mean or guarantee that the institute will have a lot of visitors. It is easy to like a post, and it takes planning and money to see the physical versions of the art piece, versus going onto a social platform which is free to all.

Lastly, social media, like physical institutes and programs, go through changes in looks, and interface which sometimes becomes difficult to navigate through. If you are someone like me who does not use social media that often, if at all, utilizing a social media platform can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. There are varying strategies that museums use to advertise themselves, and how a museum utilizes social media can also vary depending on what the institute prioritizes and their desired goals. Meaning, a single strategy for one museum, may not be as successful as it was for another. For example, the Brooklyn Museum faced heavy competition for visitors and had to re-evaluate their social media strategy. The museum’s social media team changed their focus to more local outreach, and now uses the internet to highlight local artists, which proved to be successful for their visitor attendance and satisfaction.

Smaller institutes like the Bexley Heritage Trust in the UK do not have millions of followers on social media sites and must find other ways to grow their audience. In the article by Rachel Gonzalez, she discusses that because smaller museums are often known on a local scale, they can benefit from just having an active Twitter, or Facebook to post about exhibitions, events, and educational programs to attract a wider audience. Sarah Humphris, the Public Relations and Media Manager for the Trust, states in the article that “the Trust does not focus on Facebook statistics because it does not align with their mission, but rather the Trust focuses on concentrating on regularly sharing their news with great imagery, replying to people as soon as they can, and building a larger audience”.

Twitter feed of Bexley Heritage Trust, @BexleyHeritage, featuring exhibitions, events, and more. 

Whereas some institutes rely on statistics to drive their social media strategies, smaller institutes can grow their numbers with local communities and amplify their audience with marketing events, and educational programs.

Because people utilize social media a lot more these days, museums and galleries have had to adapt to survive by gaining a social following to further support their organization and mission, as well as compete with other artists who utilize these social platforms. To recap, social has changed the ways we as artists, and viewers, experience and interact with the art world, by expanding borders to reach audiences all around, creating new interactions for the audience members to immerse themselves further into artwork. All the pros and cons that come with the utilization of social media platforms from expanding and connecting with an audience, both locally and international, too getting lost in the hashtags and the difficulty in navigating into through the ever changing platforms. How museums have changed to adapt to the changing art world, both pre and post COVID.

 

Bibliography

Bittar, Alejandro Garcia, Not Being Photogenic Enough In the Age of Instagram, 2018 https://museumsdigitalculture.prattsi.org/photogenic-natural-history-museums-67bb5cec9758

Dawson, Aimee, Which Museums Have the Biggest Following On Social Media, 2020 https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/museum-masters-of-the-social-media-universe

Davies, Simon, Why Art Galleries Need to Embrace Social Media to Survive, 2016, https://socialnomics.net/2016/06/17/why-art-galleries-need-to-embrace-social-media-to-survive/

Gelles, Auni, Putting the “Social” in Social Media: Interactive New Media for Museums, 2017 http://articles.themuseumreview.org/tmr_vol2no1_gelles

Gilbert, Sophie, Please Turn On Your Phone In the Museum, 2016 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/please-turn-on-your-phone-in-the-museum/497525/?gclid=CjwKCAjww5r8BRB6EiwArcckC2Gb5CvxZt8RgqpGyvm-KP-VJYfiVQ_CQCtBGZ5ShIHNw4BtIqwkChoClBEQAvD_BwE

Gonzalez, Rachel, Keep the Conversation Going, 2017, http://articles.themuseumscholar.org/vol1no1gonzalez

Itzkowitz, Laura, How COVID-19 Pandemic is Affecting Museums, 2020, https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/covid-19-impact-on-museums

Luke, Ben, Art in the Age of Instagram, 2019, htps://www.theartnewspaper.com/feature/art-in-the-age-of-instagram-and-the-power-of-going-viral

McLogan, Elle, How Social Media is Changing the Art World, 2018, https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/11/social-media-art-the-dig/

Sokolowsky, Jenner, Art in the Instagram Age, 2017, https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-in-the-instagram-age-how-social-media-is-shaping-art-and-how-you-experience-it/

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/how-social-media-is-changing-our-art-experience

https://www.artbusiness.com/orvzt.html

Navigating the Art World

https://www.artbusiness.com/osoquugalsys.html