Should artists look for other (virtual) spaces for their works? If you want to present your pictures, you may not be able to do much with videos.
Visual artists use Instagram to build a fan and buyer community. However, the platform wants to focus on videos and shopping in the future. Is this a signal for the art scene to look for new spaces?
Instagram is changing. What began around ten years ago as a platform mainly for the exchange of photos, which attracted many artists and designers, will increasingly be geared towards entertainment and shopping in the future.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a video message that in view of the competition from TikTok (where artists can even buy TikTok followers through services provided by companies like SocialBoosting) and others, the platform will no longer be a photo platform, but, in the future, will rely primarily on moving images – i.e. videos.
Restrictions have been in place for some time
The focus should be on “creators”. This does not surprise industry experts. The process has been underway for some time
For media and cultural scientist Annekathrin Kohout, the envisaged changes are a reaction to the actual or perceived needs of users. However, certain restrictions and rules have been in place on Instagram for some time so that no nude photos can be uploaded and shown.
But the excitement is great, especially among artists. Because the scene has experienced in recent years the positive sense of “big changes through Instagram”, so it is understandable that the announced changes there cause uncertainty, says Kohout.
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Artists don’t want to lose community
This is especially true for those who depend on static images and earn their money with them. Because many have “built up their own fans and their own communities over the years and of course do not want to lose that”.
But the planned changes may also hold opportunities for the art market. “I am sure that new, creative content will come about through such changes,” believes the media scientist. Many examples in recent years have shown how adaptation to certain rules has at the same time produced “a great wealth of creation”.
Kohout sees another opportunity for artists to actually leave Instagram: looking for new, smaller, even virtual spaces, could be a solution to focus less on quantity than on quality.