In an age where social media has become one of the main windows through which we interact with the world, it is important to critically analyse the effects these platforms and the ones who wield power in these spaces have over the creative processes of artists. In this article, we delve deep into the curious world of Instagram archive accounts and their solidifying position as descendants of the art gallery as cultural curators of the digital era.
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If you're reading this article, chances are you've probably come across it through social media. One platform or another must have figured that you would enjoy this one, and I guess you did, too. When you think about it, this kind of grip that social media platforms have on our habits, interests and artistic tastes is quite astounding. Nowhere does this feel more apparent than when scrolling through Instagram archive accounts. Think of @aplasticplant, @welcome.jpeg, @saint, @hidden.ny or @musterfuck and the rapid sequences of striking artworks, including paintings, sculptures, fragments of visual culture, which they present to us daily, just so we can forget all about them with the next one popping up on our screens.
The more optimistic outlook on this phenomenon would be that we perhaps live in a time which makes it as easy as humanly possible to encounter art and draw inspiration from an almost infinite digital archive. And yet, this experience often feels less like meaningful engagement and more like drifting through an unending river of content, most of which we don’t really care about enough to remember encountering it just minutes later. There also seems to be a shared sentiment among young creatives that this mode of interaction promotes a kind of endless, impulsive consumption. It provides just enough mental stimulation to keep us scrolling, but rarely enough to compel us to create. It is exactly this paradox of unprecedented access to inspiration on the one hand, and a creeping sense of creative stagnation on the other, that this article will explore.
Let us start by briefly looking at the logic that governs the interaction between social media platforms and the art world. The obvious attraction of artists to these platforms lies in the democratisation of exposure they promise. Artists no longer have to rely solely on galleries, publishers or institutions to share their work. You can now simply post your work online and potentially reach thousands. It would be foolish to dismiss this massive empowerment. And yet, this sense of agency is more limited than it first appears. Visibility is not neutral. It is governed not only by an algorithmic logic, but also increasingly by the curatorial decisions of the hundreds of large archive accounts that select, reframe, and redistribute artworks to massive audiences. In this ecosystem, art no longer needs to resonate with people alone. It must also resonate with systems of selection, circulation, and visibility.
