The Most Instagrammable
A Visual Study of the Effects of Social Media on Spatial Design
A research project for the 2018 Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference (MIGC) creative gallery + roundtable discussion on photography.
In collaboration with Kelsey Kuehn.
Project description :
" This project aims to explore the asymmetrical relationships between social media, place, and experience by exposing the neglected aspects of spaces unrepresented on Instagram. Each digital collage is an essentialized representation of a geotagged location based on its Instagram presence. Studying the “most instagrammed” aspects of each places, we have reconstructed physical spaces as digital collages without ever having visited these places. The process illuminates narratives of both design and experience and prompts questions about collective experience, the impact of social media on spacial design, and visual associations with place. "
As an entry on the topic of photography for the 2018 MIGC, this project examined the collective associations of physical spaces and their digital depictions. Since the invention of Instagram, the image world has been flooded with cute cafes an whimsical floor patterns. The aim of this installation was to remotely assemble spaces of consumption without physically placing ourselves there. Simply by rummaging the Instagram geo-locational tags of stores, we were able to render these spaces. As a society we see a trend in interior design toward this 'aesthetic' of photographical places. Designers are purposefully creating places that can be highly photograph and it begs the question of experience. Today the actual experience of an event seems misplaced when the built environment is geared toward photograpability. We are being conditioned to experience through photograph, leaving the actual environments void of personal touch and individuality.
The project is a commentary on the balance and disasociation of experience and location. As a society we are becoming increasingly desensitized to our surrounding if we continue to 'experience' through our camera phones and our Instagram feeds.
