Everything We Do in Digital Leads to the Original
Do Art Museums Benefit from Social Media?
Clara Bläser, Student ID: 12381624
Master of Arts (MA) in New Media and Digital Culture
Supervisor: Dr. J.A.A. (Johannes) Simons | Second reader: Dr. Bogna Konior
Amsterdam, June 2019
This document is written by Student Clara Bläser who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Humanities is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Amsterdam, June 28th, 2019 Clara Bläser
2 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to conduct how art museums in times of digitisation can get the attention of today's digital natives. It provides an insight into how museums use social media, to gain a new and younger audience. In order to get a clear perception of the Instagram use of museums, this paper is working with two case studies. The objects are two art museums in Munich, the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst. Three interviews with social media representatives of the institutions and an art historian were conducted and a content analysis of the Instagram accounts of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst was made to formulate approaches for action. This study concludes that social media, given the Instagram analysis, offers a great opportunity to reach out to younger people and interact with them. But to be able to successfully implement and use Instagram, the importance of this platform must be clear for everyone. Social media users are demanding interaction, therefore a successful social media strategy needs investments in qualified head counts.
Keywords: art, digitisation, digital natives, Instagram, museums, social media
3 Abstract 3
1. Introduction 6 1.1 Research questions 9 1.2 Thesis outline 10
2. Theoretical Framework 11 2.1 Mechanical reproduction, authenticity and accessibility 11 2.2 Digitisation: Opportunities and risks for museums 13 2.3 Affordances on Instagram 17 2.4 Objects of research 20
3. Methodology 21 3.1 Case study 21 3.2 Approach 21 3.2.1 Interviews 21 3.2.2 Content analysis 24 3.2.3 Google Chrome helper tool for Instagram 29 3.3 How users make use of Instagrams affordance 30
4. Findings 31 4.1 Instagram - Everything we do in digital leads to the original 31 4.1.1 Mechanical reproduction and authenticity 33 4.1.2 New media vs. museums? 36 4.1.3 Photographic capturing of art influencing the perception? 37 4.1.4 Contemporary art vs. old masters, non-collecting vs. permanent collection 38 4.1.5 From the museum to the electronic music club 41 4.2 Instagram use of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst 43 4.2.1 Company specific hashtags/ co-creation 43 4.2.2 Technical quality of posted content 45 4.2.3 Snapshot aesthetic 45 4.2.4 Behind the scenes photography 46 4.2.5 Utilizing the different features that are available on Instagram 48 4.2.6 Balance between followers and following 49 4.2.7 Interaction with the Instagram followers 50 4.2.8 Reposting the followers content 52 4.3 Most liked posts 53
5. Discussion 61 5.1 Competition or alliance? 61 5.2 Getting the attention of today’s young audience 63 5.3 Different art, same app roach 64
4 5.4 The importance of interactivity 67
6. Conclusion 68
Bibliography 71
Appendix 77
5 1. Introduction
Internet of Things, over 5 billion unique mobile users and “(...) more than one million people coming online for the first time each day since January 2018” (Kemp n. pag.), underline that our world is changing dramatically. Today’s young generation is called digital natives, they are born into this digital age, formed by the online world. Reading is replaced by video games and streaming providers. Children and young people of today are “native speakers” when it comes to the digital language of the Internet, video games or computers (Prensky 2). The digital natives come directly after generation Y. For the millennials, being the same as generation Y, different age groups are mentioned, but it can be approximately said that these are the age groups born between 1980-2000, the 20-39-year-olds in 2019. The millennials grew up in a world where computers are taken for granted, social networks have become established, and advertising is more relevant than ever before (Rouse n. pag.).
“Constant exposure to digital media has changed the way the digital generation processes, interacts and uses information. As a result, they think and communicate in fundamentally different ways than any previous generation” (Jukes & Dosaj n. pag.). Communication for the younger generation usually takes place on the modern, digital way, via social media. The share of social media use from the age of 14 to 19-year-olds is at 100% and 98% for the 20 to 29-year-olds (“Social Media: Usage Share”). Nearly everyone owns a smartphone and has several social media accounts on different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Their online presence affects their offline life. In order to get the attention of these young people, you will probably reach them best online.
Instagram is one of the rather new forms of communication where users share their lives through pictures and videos. “(...) it is the most popular photo capturing and sharing application” (Hu et al. 595) and reaches a younger, more diverse audience than any other social network (Salomon n. pag.). All income and education classes use Instagram, which makes it especially for museums to such an interesting online platform to reach a big audience (Clarke n. pag.). Young mobile users fulfill their desire of taking photos with their smartphones, to then easily upload and share them immediately with the world. With sharing photos, they connect with others and exchange interests and information among each other
6 (Abbott et al. 3). In 2018 Instagram had 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users, and it is still growing rapidly (Etherington n.pag.). 60.4% of all users are between 18 and 24 years old (“Global Instagram User”). At the time of writing this, Instagram users upload 95 million photos a day to the site (“Instagram Marketing Statistics”).
Instagram has become not only a useful social networking platform to individuals but also to companies (Ting et al. 16). “(...) many traditional offline organizations have slowly incorporated social networking services into their businesses in order to reach and communicate with their actual and potential consumers more efficiently” (Ting et al. 18). It is not only about sharing personal photos anymore but also about taking advantage of it, earn money with Instagram, advertise companies or products and draw attention to particular issues. And because the users of Instagram are so young, this platform can reach especially the young target group very well.
Although the platform Instagram plays such an important role in social media today, it has been relatively seldom considered in studies so far. There are studies about the user practices on Instagram (Araujo et al. 19) and research about how visitors using applications driven by smartphone technology are engaging with exhibition content, space, design, architecture, and people (Budge 67). Additionally, Weilenmann, Hillman, and Jungselius studied for example how the everyday use of smartphones with high-quality built-in cameras has lead to an increase in museum visitors’ use of these devices to document and share their museum experiences (Weilenmann et al. n. pag.).
Studies about how social media is used for artworks and how visitors use social media to document their museum visit already exist. What you will not find much about is how an art museum itself uses social media, to gain a new and younger audience. These previous studies can be a good starting point to extend and build upon.
As culture is and will ever be a relevant part of life and history, museums are very important part of our society. The museum is not closed to any medium, any art form, any genre, any style. The museum runs an archive and with it future (Weibel “Das Museum” 1) and they exist for more than 2 millennia. The world's oldest museum was built 2.500 years ago. Early museums began with private collections by wealthy people. In the 19th century, more and more museums were open for the public, like the State Hermitage Museum, the Museo del
7 Prado and the Louvre. This art is now accessible to visitors in spectacular buildings (“The World’s Oldest”). In the 20th, and also today in the 21st century, those kinds of buildings or palaces are still built, rebuild and renovated. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, for example, underwent many changes to create more rooms for donated artworks. “The building was thoroughly modernized, while at the same time restoring more of Cuypers original interior designs” (“History of the Rijksmuseum”). But how do these old institutions continue to exist in the digital world? Museums open access to intellectual content, collect and exhibit art and make it available for everyone. More and more museums try to find solutions to find a ‘space’ in cyberspace. With social media, they get the chance “(...) to attract wider audiences, especially those more difficult to reach, such as young people” (NEMO 15). Learning, education and awareness-raising are still key goals and will remain so for all museum. Nevertheless, rethinking with regard to digitisation is necessary to improve interaction with the visitors and especially with young people and young adults (NEMO 15). Museums and digitisation can be brought together by using Instagram. This fast-moving topic is much larger and is beyond the scope of this thesis, so which deliberately deals only with Instagram as an example, because Instagram focuses on the image as a communication medium.
Nowadays you get information from the Internet, be it on scientific topics, everyday questions or entertainment. Social media platforms are a great way to promote institutions, exhibitions, and events. A big audience can be reached here and information can be widely disseminated. Especially Instagram, a platform that is all around pictures and videos, can be a great way for museums to interact with their visitors and interested parties.
The Musée du Louvre (Louvre), for example, once again had sensational 10.2 million visitors in 2018. But even more interesting is the fact that half of the visitors this year were younger than thirty. The Louvre, which exhibits art from all millennia, is envied worldwide for this number. Why exactly so many young people visited the Louvre this year is not entirely certain. The director, however, believes that it was probably not only the art on display but the fact that Beyoncé and Jay-Z shot their music video in the Louvre. Their video was watched over 147 million times on YouTube (Lorch 15). This shows, that new media, and also social media, are important factors for catching the attention of the younger generation.
8 The Alte Pinakothek, one of the museums analysed in this work, breaks new ground as well. They just started a cooperation with Blitz Club in Munich for which the artist Anja Lekavski designed the clubs recent posters, inspired by the Renaissance paintings that are shown in their exhibition ‘Florence and its painters’. This project combined ancient artworks with current new media topics like machine learning, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence. Before the event at Blitz Club, one could visit the exhibition ‘Florence and its painters’ at Alte Pinakothek where they also had DJs of the Blitz Club till 23.00 (“Vor dem Blitz”). Promoted got all of this on the Pinakotheken social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram. With co-operations and projects like this, the Alte Pinakothek tries to get younger visitors into their exhibitions and shows, that there are a lot of different ways to promote art on social media.
In order to get insight into the Instagram use of museums, this paper is working with two case studies. The objects are two museums in Munich, the Alte Pinakothek, and the Haus der Kunst. The Alte Pinakothek, with its own collection, presents artworks from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Baroque up to the end of the Rococo period (Die Pinakotheken). The Haus der Kunst is a key global center for contemporary art but does not have its own collection (Haus der Kunst). Both of the museums run Instagram accounts with 15.000 and 30.000 followers. This study will show how these two institutions use Instagram to get a younger audience to visit the museum with a focus on the fact that one museum exhibits older art while the other exhibits contemporary art. In addition, it might be interesting if it makes a difference if a museum has its own collection or not.
1.1 Research questions
As mentioned above, studies about museums and social media exist. Most of them, however, deal with topics like the educational aspect of museums or the art itself. This paper presents another case study towards this scholarship and combines some of the previous approaches, asking:
How do art museums with their centuries of history and tradition try to get the attention of today’s digital natives by using social media?
9 What kind of Instagram approaches do museums with classic art use in comparison to museums with contemporary art?
1.2 Thesis outline
To answer these research questions the first part of this study will focus on preceding theoretical insights in order to build a general sight of the topic art museums, visitors, new art forms and Instagram. First starting with the theoretical views of Walter Benjamin, Denis Dutton, and John Berger to discuss the topics of mechanical reproduction, authenticity, and aura of artworks. In the next step, there will be a focus on digitisation and what opportunities and risks that brings for museums, focusing here on already existing studies of this topic to expand these afterwards. Following, the affordances of Instagram will be explained to get a better comprehension of the users motives for being active on a particular platform and to see if and how the two objects of this study take full advantage of the affordances provided by Instagram. Before getting deeper into the methodology, the objects of research, the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, will be presented.
For the second part, the methods part, the case studies will be explained. For this research, an empirical case-study research was chosen. To conduct how museums in times of digitisation can get the attention of today's digital natives interviews, as well as a content analysis on the Instagram accounts of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst were chosen. This will not only be a content analysis but also a comparison of the findings of these two accounts with a focus on the fact that one museum exhibits contemporary art and has no collection of its own and the Alte Pinakothek having a permanent collection of old, traditional artworks. Interviews with the social media representatives of the respective institution, as well as an interview with an art historian which offers guided tours of the Munich cultural scene, will contribute additional information and insight to the researched topic.
10 2. Theoretical Framework
This study examines if art museums still have a right to exist although digitisation gives access to art everywhere and every time. The focus will be on how museums and digitisation might successfully collaborate, using Instagram as an example.
This addresses photography and reproductivity of artworks as well as their distribution on Instagram. Therefore, existing literature and papers on these topics will be discussed and dealt with to be the base for the research questions of this thesis.
2.1 Mechanical reproduction, authenticity and accessibility
Walter Benjamin was probably “(…) the most important German philosopher, cultural critic and essayist in the first half of the 20th century” (Luebering n. pag.). In his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” he discusses authenticity in artworks and how this goes together with mechanical reproduction. If looked in the past, to the Greek for example, a work of art has always been reproducible. “Man-made artifacts could always be imitated by men. Replicas were made by pupils in practice of their craft by masters for diffusing their works, and, finally by third parties in the pursuit of gain” (Benjamin 2). However, with mechanics, this reproduction becomes something new. Reproduction reached a standard and kind of normality and “(…) had captured a place of its own among the artistic processes” (Benjamin 3). But Benjamin also argues, that even the most perfect reproduction of an artwork will lack in “(…) its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (3). He as well discusses the aura, the unique aesthetic authority, and the authenticity of work of arts which get lost in the mechanically reproduced copy (4). Art itself has to be defined new in the age of mechanical reproduction. “(…) the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility” (Benjamin 6). The point of view to works of art and the reaction of the masses towards it changes here by. Benjamin sees the contemplation of paintings by a larger public very critical and as “(…) an early symptom of the crisis of painting, a crisis which was by no means occasioned
11 exclusively by photography but rather in a relatively independent manner by the appeal of artworks to the masses” (14).
He sees the problem in the mass from where the behavior towards artworks changes and becomes a new form today (19). All in all, Benjamin argues, that art and its reception are subject to change, especially through the development of photography and film. This is because of the possibility of mass production, as well as a new form of depict reality and therefore a change in collective perception.
Denis Dutton, an American philosopher, writes about authenticity as well. Especially in connection with museums, paintings and photographs of them, he tries to find out to what extent authenticity is preserved or lost. Next to nominal and expressive authenticity, he focuses on the authenticity of the experience. Achieving authenticity here may be an impossible achievement. Dutton argues, that the painter of an artwork, for example, may not see the painted object in the same way the artist did while painting (Dutton n. pag.). Therefore also a photography cannot replace an original painting in a museum as being just a copy of it. So it is questionable if a photography of an artwork on Instagram will then be able to transmit authenticity of experience. The example of art catalogues, which still exist for almost every major exhibition, shows that the need to ‘take away’ and hold on to art has long existed.
Additionally, John Berger discusses the potentials of mass media and how photography has influenced artworks in his work “Ways of Seeing”. In some ways, his work is the connection between Walter Benjamin and the mass media. Berger “(...) had a profound influence on the popular understanding of art and the visual image” (Gunaratnam & Bell n. pag.). In “Ways of Seeing” he writes about how the classics get accessible to the average person when images are no longer only shown in the museum but also on the media through photography (Davis n. pag.). “Oil painting, before it was anything else, was a celebration of private property. As an art-form, it derived from the principle that you are what you have” (Berger 139). Not until years later these artworks became accessible for the public in museums. Today with new media, accessibility has reached a previously unimagined extend. Photography was able to reproduce objects “(...) as only oil paint had been able to do before” (Berger 140). Works of art are no longer only to be seen in museums but also on social media platforms like
12 Instagram and have thus reached much larger dimensions of accessibility, independant from time and location.
2.2 Digitisation: Opportunities and risks for museums
The above-stated theories of Walter Benjamin, Dennis Dutton, and John Berger do not refer directly to the digital age but can still be adapted to the present time. While a few decades ago the mechanical reproduction of photographs of paintings was viewed with skepticism or was at least discussed, today this has taken completely new dimensions with the Web2.0. Not only is there mechanical reproduction by photography, but also sharing the content afterwards online. Almost everyone owns an online device and uses it constantly and everywhere to take photos and then share them with others on social networks. Mechanical reproduction takes on proportions most reproducers are not aware of. Even if it seems to be a bit negative at first glance, there are a lot of opportunities in it. Museum visits, for example, are documented and shared with others, who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see these works of art. Here again, the question of aura and aesthetics arises. Can photos of works of art, which are then usually only viewed on small smartphone screens, in any way convey the aura and aesthetics of the actual work of art? But also: does this play any role at all for the young target groups, which has the greatest importance in taking and sharing photos, videos and content? With what intention are museum visits to the young target group digitally documented and shared online? And at what point is a work of art or a visit to a museum even documented with a smartphone? Are not more and more museums, exhibitions and works of art oriented towards addressing visitors in the best possible way, knowing that social media and other digital services have a high priority today? These questions arise with the mentioned theories and the topic. Answering all of them would go beyond the scope of this thesis, which focuses on how museums use Instagram, but they are still worth mentioning.
Instagram, being focussed on sharing photos, plays a big role in social media today but, as already shortly mentioned in the introduction, has been relatively seldom considered in studies so far.
13 Kevin Systrom, the Instagram co-founder, explained in a blog post from 2013 that Instagram should be “(...) a simple app that has inspired creativity while capturing everyday moments through the lens of your mobile phone” (Systrom n. pag.). It is an app with the focus on the unique mobile-only experience. Instagram “(...) is about seeing and taking photos on-the-go” (Systrom n. pag.).
From Systrom’s statement about Instagram in 2013 on, the platform expanded enormously. With 90 million users in January 2013 to 700 million users in April 2017, Instagram became more and more widespread (Manovich 148). Lev Manovich is one of the scientists who wrote a paper on Instagram. He is writing about the platform, that combines several elements of the photo culture, and its users in his work Instagram and Contemporary Image and how this changed the way of the image and photography (11). Manovich talks about the aesthetic, but here in connection with workers, the society and Instagram. Here “Rather than being a property of art, aesthetic is the key property of commercial goods and services” (Manovich 117).
As the world changes to digitisation, museums need to be ‘instagramable’ in a world that arises in the Web2.0. With that, also the institution museum itself changes in some parts. There is more and more literature about so-called virtual museums where the term ‘no-photo-policy’ is not taken into account anymore. Because of course, everything is already online here. Lazaridou et al. in their chapter The Virtual Museum of the Stoa of Attalos describe the advantages of museums in a virtual environment, like for example how the visitor does not need to go somewhere to see the artworks because one can see everything from digital devices at home. Studies about virtual museums focus most of the time on the educational aspect here. To make art accessible for everyone, everywhere. Also, art that is maybe not able to be exhibited in a museum because it is damaged or fragile (Lazaridou et al. 9, 10). “The wide use of internet, social media and websites can make the digitised content of a museum more accessible and transport it to everyone all around the world” (Lazaridou et al. 9). Lazaridou et al. additionally state, museum visitors get motivated to visit a museum after they visited the online platforms of the institution and that they tend to remember information better when they had a digital tour rather than just reading the descriptions next to the artworks (9). “This means that the virtual museum functions in a complementary
14 manner to the real museum” (Lazaridou et al. 9). Related to the educational aspect that is looked at in the chapter The Virtual Museum of the Stoa of Attalos, content is better and faster absorbed through interactivity and the fact of learning“(...) through a vivid, realistic and appealing process (...)” (Lazaridou et al. 16).
The aspect of digitising art is, in a certain way, similar to looking at a museums Instagram account where the institution posts pictures and videos of their exhibited art. Which art is actually photographed in the museum and in what way this content is then processed and shared is examined in this study.
While Lazaridou et al. in their chapter The Virtual Museum of the Stoa of Attalos focused on the institution and the educational aspect, Weilenmann et al. studied the visitors experiences while they were visiting a museum of natural history and analysed 222 Instagram accounts to look how these visits were communicated on that platform. On the basis of these results, they then discussed what new media practices “(...) imply for the visitors’ engagement with and documentation of museum exhibits” (Weilenmann et al. 1843). Weilenmann et al. indicate, that whether wanted or not, museum visits are most of the time documented with smartphones nowadays. They engage with the exhibitions in various different ways. Museums are highly planned environments with a specific structure and artworks are always curated in a certain manner. “By re-organizing the exhibitions in their own ways, visitors are in effect re-curating the exhibits that they share online” (Weilenmann et al. 1850). Instagrammers become virtual curators, reorganize and tell their own narrative. As the museum serves as a resource for the photos taken and uploaded on Instagram, it is a good condition to then compare the original exhibition to the recurated one on Instagram to make “(...) visitors’ categorization work visible in a way that might be significantly more difficult in other environments where organizational structures are not so readily discernible” (Weilenmann et al. 1851). The online content created in museums and then uploaded on platforms like Instagram will be seen by a much broader online public. From their material, Weilenmann et al. can detect, that Instagrammers prioritize and create their accounts differently from one another with regard to the aesthetics and artistic expressions as well as the manipulation of the photographs and the captions (1851). Weilenmann et al.’s study shows, that unaffected if the institution has strategies on the smartphone behavior or not, many visitors, make intensive use of their smartphones while visiting museums and engage
15 with the exhibitions in a great variety of ways (1851). “By building on these emerging practices museums have the chance to enrich visitors’ experiences and to extend their reach beyond museum walls” (Weilenmann et al. 1851).
This thesis will extend on the findings of Weilenmann et al. and look how museums seize the opportunity of Instagram to enrich the visitors’ experience and above all to motivate the young generation to come to the museum.
Kylie Budge in Objects in Focus: Museum Visitors and Instagram “(...) draws on a case study of one exhibition using visual content analysis to frame, explore and interpret visual and text-based posts by visitors using the social media application, Instagram, as part of their experience (67). With her research questions, she focuses on the audiences of cultural institutions and how these audiences use Instagram to connect with the objects in exhibitions (Budge 68). Museums can learn a lot about their visitors from the images they post online. Most of the visitors of the exhibitions Budge worked with and analysed focused their Instagram posts on the objects on display, most of the time close-ups of it (79). She describes Instagram as a part of the experience of the museum visit (78). Budge writes about the importance for institutions to not only “talk to” their audience but “talk with” it. This “talking with” the audience can take place on online platforms such as Instagram (82). Building upon Kylie Budge’s study, I will analyse how museums use Instagram and draw value from the social media use of their visitors. Because “understanding points of meaning-making for audiences attending exhibitions can lead to a huge number of possibilities in terms of curatorial decisions, exhibition design, the architecture of gallery space, and deepening engagement more broadly” (Budge 82).
Another study of interest that focuses on user practices is written by Camila Souza Araujo et al. Other than in the above-mentioned studies, their study is more broadly about the understanding of user practices. Their study analyses “1.265.080 publicly accessible photos and videos posted by ordinary and popular Instagram users” (Araujo et al. 19.). “In their work (...) the main role is played by the photos themselves. (They) focus on the photos in order to reveal some cultural practices that take place through Instagram” (Araujo et al. 20). They have analysed that on Saturday and Sunday, during the afternoon and evening the most postings are made. The likes and comments are based on a power-law distribution or the rich
16 get richer phenomenon which means the more followers you have the more likes and comments you get and the faster your account is growing (Araujo et al. 21). Especially worldwide brands with their big amount of fans and bloggers that promote their brand and Instagram account get a lot of likes. The platform Instagram is often used as a self-promotion media (Araujo et al. 22). The findings of Araujo et al. are the first step to analyse the later on Instagram accounts in the methodology part, to get a better understanding of how the platform Instagram is used best.
The starting point for this thesis are the previously mentioned studies that consider the potential museum visitor. This thesis will broaden the perspective and show how museums could use Instagram to catch the attention of the younger audience and to get closer to the next generation of visitors. It focuses on the use of Instagram by the art institution itself under the aspect of gaining a new and younger audience. While previous studies most of the time analysed the user practices and the educational aspect of museums, I will do a content analysis on the accounts of the selected museums themselves to see how they use Instagram to their advantage and combine art and social media. Instead of talking with the audience of the art institutions, like Weilenmann et al. did for example for their study, I will talk to the social media representatives of the two museums in my case study.
2.3 Affordances on Instagram
An important part when analysing online platforms is looking into its affordances. Through understanding a platforms affordances one can better comprehend the users motives for being active on a particular platform. It is interesting to look if and how the two museums of this study take full advantage of the affordances provided by Instagram. To discuss these online affordances, first of all, it is important to look at the original concept of affordances by James Gibson. The verb ‘afford’ does exist but he made up the word ‘affordances’. In “Theory of Affordances” he discusses the step from surfaces to affordances. “The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill” (Gibson 127). Affordances are measured relative to animals or human beings. “Different layouts afford different behaviors for different animals, and different mechanical encounters” (Gibson 128). Affordances are designed to trigger types of social behavior. A sofa or a chair,
17 for example, affords sitting for most human beings. It is a surface of support with four properties, which is knee-high above the ground. A chair, or seat in general, can “(…) have various shapes, as long as its functional layout is that of a seat” (Gibson 128). Important to mention is, that the affordance is relative to the individual. When it comes to the size, for example, knee-high for an adult is not the same height as for a child (Gibson 127, 128). “So the affordance is relative to the size of the individual” (Gibson 128). In summary, this means that 'affordances' can be seen as the interaction between humans and artefacts.
Online platforms and smartphone applications, like Instagram, work with a new form of affordances, the digital affordances. As Light et al. describe it in their walkthrough method, affordances appear at multiple levels of scale when we come to online applications. It begins at the app´s button, the interaction with operating systems, over to hardware and structures of connectivity like wifi (6). The multi-touch screen, tapping and scrolling at Instagram are all part of the affordances of this app. Users interact with the app by liking, commenting, posting, etc. This broad range of interactive elements are the most prevalent digital media affordances which are not found in conventional media. It gives the user a feeling of having meaningful dialogue and the chance of control and influence (Schwebs 2).
Going away from the app and to Instagram as a photo sharing platform itself, one can find several affordances here as well. For this thesis, they are only shortly mentioned because they play a role for the big hole in the end and may at some point be an explanation for why users act in a specific way and how platforms work so interactive in the first place, but the work itself focuses on a different topic here. The design and features of the platform Instagram have already been researched in some studies and these can be referred to here.
Treem and Leonardi have elaborated four distinct affordances when it comes to the social media use of organizations. These are visibility, persistence, editability, and association (9). When looking specifically at the affordances of the platform Instagram, Hurley defines multimodal affordances as “(...) photographs, filters, hashtags, captions, and videos that enable postings of pre-prepared content as well as immediate postings of live content” (2). That is also an explanation for Instagram's popularity (Hurley 2).
18 McNely, in his study “Shaping Organizational Image-Power Through Images: Case Histories of Instagram”, specifically defines the Instagram photo filters as one of Instagram`s key affordances (n. pag.).
Online affordances have to be structured in certain ways to be user-friendly. There has to be found a balance. More information, affordances, and possibilities are not always better. Instagram found this balance which makes it so user-friendly and easy to handle but still having a great opportunity for various actions and reception of information and content. The platform has a self-explanatory design with for example a ‘sear’ icon, ‘add photo’ icon or the ‘notifications’ button. The affordances Instagram uses makes the app stay relevant for the user and invites to produce and share content, for private accounts as well as for business accounts (Lee n. pag.).
For this thesis, the affordances have been specified with the help of existing marketing and PR research. The studies “Marketing and PR in Social Media: How the utilization of Instagram builds and maintains customer relationships”, by Thamwika Bergström and Lisa Bäckman, “Follow for follow: marketing of a start-up company on Instagram”, by Henrik Virtanen et al. and “‘Snap happy’ brands: Increasing publicity effectiveness through a snapshot aesthetic when marketing a brand on Instagram” by Jonas Colliander and Ben Marder, were used to create eight categories under which the Instagram accounts of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek were then analysed.
These categories are the following and will be explained in more detail in the methodology chapter.
1. Company specific hashtags/ co-creation 2. Technical quality of posted content (good resolution) 3. Snapshot aesthetic 4. Behind the scenes photography 5. Utilizing the different features that are available on Instagram 6. Balance between follower and following 7. Interaction with the Instagram followers 8. Reposting the followers content
19 2.4 Objects of research
The objects chosen for this thesis are two museums in Munich. One is the Alte Pinakothek and the other one is the Haus der Kunst. The Alte Pinakothek with its own collection presents artworks from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Baroque up to the end of the Rococo period. The museum is one of the most renowned art collections in the world. “The collection comprises more than 700 artworks from the glittering epochs of German, Flemish, Netherlandish, French, Italian and Spanish painting. Leo von Klenze’s neoclassical building (completed in 1836), groundbreaking for European museum architecture at the time, provides the setting for this treasure trove of occidental art” (Die Pinakotheken). Among others, painters like Cranach, Altdorfer, Dürer, Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, and Rubens are exhibited here. At the time of its completion, in 1836, the Alte Pinakothek was the largest museum building in the world (“Die Münchner Pinakotheken”). The Haus der Kunst is a key global center for contemporary art but does not have its own collection. The Haus der Kunst is one of the most important exhibition halls in Munich and a key global center. Artists such as Ai Weiwei, Gilbert & George or Andreas Gursky have already exhibited here (“Haus der Kunst” Muenchen.de). “Haus der Kunst sharpens this perspective of contemporary art by implicating many viewpoints, deploying multiple tools, and developing a critical context for the examination, articulation, illumination, and transmission of the historical dimension of contemporaneity” (Haus der Kunst). Both of the museums run Instagram accounts with 17.200, Pinakotheken, and 33.700 followers, Haus der Kunst. With interviews and a content analysis on Instagram, it is studied how these two institutions use Instagram to get a younger audience to visit the museum with the focus on the fact that one museum exhibits older art while the other exhibits contemporary art and one having its own collection.
20 3. Methodology
In order to answer the research questions and get the best insights into the topic and the two objects of the case study, the method of this work is divided into two parts. In a first step, three interviews were conducted and in a second step, a content analysis of two Instagram accounts was done. Two methods were chosen to get a better insight into the field and to compare the results of the interviews with those of the content analysis as well as to base the results on each other. In the following, a deeper insight into the approach and selection of methods is given.
What has to be noted is that, since this is a qualitative case study with only two objects, the research is limited. Otherwise, it would go beyond the scope of this thesis.
3.1 Case study
For this research an empirical method was chosen, a case-study research. “A case study is a research strategy and an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context” (PressAcademia). A broad field of research is narrowed down into a researchable topic here. “Whilst it will not answer a question completely, it will give some indications and allow further elaboration and hypothesis creation on a subject” (Shuttleworth n. pag.). This case study gives the chance to focus on a specific and interesting case and gives an in-depth clarification of the examined situation. The aim of this thesis is to conduct how art museums in times of digitisation can get the attention of today's digital natives.
3.2 Approach
3.2.1 Interviews
First, suitable interview partners of the respective institutions were selected and contacted. The person responsible for digital communication and social media of the Haus der Kunst and the person in charge of media design and art education of the Alte Pinakothek were
21 chosen. In addition, an art historian who is an authority for cultural mediation and leads art tours in Munich and the surrounding area was selected. With this additional, external person a broader insight into the topic could be achieved.
After e-mail contact was made and the persons have been informed about the topic and the procedure, a telephone interview with the responsible person of the old Pinakothek and two face-to-face interviews with the responsible person of the Haus der Kunst and the art historian were agreed on. These interviews took place in Munich.
For the interviews, a semi-structured approach was chosen. “In contrast to informal interviewing, the purpose of semi-structured interviewing is to gain detailed and focused insights into how individuals perceive a topic of interest to researchers” (Silverman 149). One gets/gains an in-depth and direct understanding of the issue researched from the key stakeholders/ key players themselves and their opinions and thoughts about the researched topic (Silverman 149).
What the semi-structured interview makes different to a survey, for example, is, that it is guided by some predefined questions but it is still very free and open and reminds more of a natural conversation. So it could be that in the end not all questions that had been prepared will be asked. It gets driven by the responses of the interviewee and for that, the order of questions that was predetermined can be restructured during the interview depending on the answers the interviewee gives. Because what distinguishes these semi-structured interviews is that they usually work with open-ended questions (Silverman 150).
Parallel to arranging appointments with the interviewees, questions therefore were generated. As people from different institutions, with slightly different professions, have been interviewed, the questions for each person have been adapted to the individual. Whereby these questions were still all around the same specific set of issues that are focused on the research questions. Some consistent questions were formulated to have the same read thread through every interview. These questions have been:
1. How do you try or get the attention of these Digital Natives? What role does Instagram play here? How do you use social media to attract new and younger visitors?
22 2. Do you think that photography distracts people from the exhibition itself?
3. What do you think of mechanical reproduction and the point of Walter Benjamin that the aura of the artwork gets lost here?
4. Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Political Education): "Museums today face increasing competition from new media". Do you agree? What is your view?
The interview questions are based, in part, on the theories already discussed at the beginning of this thesis, in order to examine to what extent they can be adapted to the present and digitalisation and, if so, whether they are confirmed or refuted. Question 2 deals with how the aspect of photographing may distract visitors from the exhibition itself and how the experience here changes. This is based on Dennis Dutton and his theory, which deals with the experience of museums, works of art and photography through authenticity and their preservation or loss (Dutton n. pag.). In question 3, the reproduction of Walter Benjamin through photography and sharing on Instagram will be addressed and whether art is now created in such a way as to be as reproducible as possible, as instagramable as possible (6). This question leads to John Berger's theory, the potential of mass media and how photography influences the artwork (140). Photography reproduces objects and through social media, Instagram, this art gets accessible for a broad mass. Question 4 deals more closely with the alleged competition between social media and museums. Question 4 deals more closely with the alleged competition between social media and museums. While the Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung sets a statement here, those responsible for the social media channels of the museums should have their say in this work.
All interviews have been recorded with two different devices to avoid losing any information. The participants were informed about the use of the recordings and signed consent templates to allow the usage of the selected material.
The records were then transcribed and relevant information was sorted separately. This happened in three steps. First, the raw interview as it took place was transcribed. In a second step, the relevant information was sorted and everything was written into a grammatically correct version. Then, this second version of pre-sorted material, which proved to be relevant
23 for the work, was translated into English, as all of the interviews were taken with Germans in German. Direct quotations from the interviews in this thesis are therefore translated into English.
The interviewees have given their written consent for the interviews and their use in this thesis. Access to the consent template can be requested.
The transcripts of the interviews can be found in the appendix while the recordings can be requested on demand.
3.2.2 Content analysis
The second approach is a content analysis on Instagram. The content analysis next to the interviews will give an insight into the actual practice of the two institutions to have additional data to the statements of the interviewees, to validate theory and praxis. For the content analysis, the Instagram accounts of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst were looked at. The research is centered on the social media platform Instagram and not on other platforms like Twitter or Facebook to make the research manageable, therefore the research questions are focused on Instagram as well. As mentioned already in the introduction, Instagram was chosen out of the various platforms because it centers around photography and videos and is one of the rather new forms of communication where users share their lives through pictures and videos. “(...) it is the most popular photo capturing and sharing application” (Hu et al. 595) and reaches a younger, more diverse audience than any other social network (Salomon n. pag.). 13 to 29-year-olds use this platform the most. In Germany, 7.4 million users are in their twenties, which makes 42% of Instagram users in all of Germany (Anssari n. pag.).
The accounts of Pinakotheken and Haus der Kunst were analysed according to various criteria. In order to identify what institutions should look out for when they maintain an Instagram profile and want to reach as many people as possible and thus aim for high followers, various existing studies on online marketing and PR on Instagram were referred to. The relevant aspects for a museum account were sorted out and compared to each other to see the similarities of these studies and get the most relevant information for the content analysis for this thesis out of it. The studies “Marketing and PR in Social Media: How the utilization
24 of Instagram builds and maintains customer relationships”, by Thamwika Bergström and Lisa Bäckman, “Follow for follow: marketing of a start-up company on Instagram”, by Henrik Virtanen et al. and “‘Snap happy’ brands: Increasing publicity effectiveness through a snapshot aesthetic when marketing a brand on Instagram” by Jonas Colliander and Ben Marder, were applied for this. Eight relevant aspects were selected for the content analysis by which the two Instagram accounts were examined. These were the following:
1. Company specific hashtags/ co-creation
Companies mainly use Instagram to market their products and spread information about upcoming events or new releases. As Bergström and Bäckman found out in their study, just sharing information does not lead to a high level of interaction, but when the company used co-creative features, like the use of a company specific hashtag, “the level of interaction increased by as much as five times” (Bergström & Bäckman 2). Nike and Starbucks made their followers collaborate and co-create material, which then showed higher interactivity of the followers (Bergström & Bäckman 34). “Users uploading pictures with company specific hashtags can also be seen as part of a word-of-mouth process, since the hashtagged picture can be seen by all of the users’ follower” (Bergström & Bäckman 34). This leads to an expansion and higher reach of a widely extended network. It strengthens the bond with the followers who get the feeling of self-involvement. Bergström and Bäckman believe that “(...) utilizing Instagram in a way that the users become co-creators of material is one of Instagram’s greatest strengths (...)” (42).
Virtanen et al. agree, that Instagram, compared to other platforms, is distinguished by its high level of usage for interaction, engagement, and co-creation (471). The company specific hashtags can be searched for on Instagram by interested consumers or, in the case of museums, the visitors to give them an insight of the institution and the
experiences other users shared of it (Virtanen et. al 472).
2. Technical quality of posted content (good resolution)
In their analysis, Bergström and Bäckman saw evidence, that followers choose institutions on Instagram “(...) based on the quality of the posted content (...)” (43). The
25 factor of uploading content in good technical quality is a determining reason for users to follow and like posts.
3. Snapshot aesthetic
Jonas Colliander and Ben Marder analysed the snapshot aesthetic on Instagram. They have put forward four hypotheses.
H1: “Using pictures with a snapshot aesthetic in image based social media will result in higher levels of liking of the images than using pictures with a traditional studio aesthetic” (Colliander & Marder 35).
H2: “Using pictures with a snapshot aesthetic in image based social media will result in higher levels of perceived source credibility than using pictures with a traditional studio aesthetic” (Colliander & Marder 35).
H3: “Using pictures with a snapshot aesthetic in image based social media will result in higher levels of brand attitude than using pictures with a traditional studio aesthetic” (Colliander & Marder 36).
H4: “Using pictures with a snapshot aesthetic in image based social media will result in greater intentions to recommend the social media account to others than pictures with a traditional studio aesthetic” (Colliander & Marder 36).
Their results showed, “(...) that for each of these variables the means of respondents following the Instagram account utilizing a snapshot aesthetic were significantly higher than the means of those respondents following an Instagram account utilizing a traditional studio aesthetic” (Colliander & Marder 38). All four hypotheses could therefore be supported and show, that the snapshot aesthetic carries high importance for
the user.
4. Behind the scenes photography
Instagram changed what is being displayed on the front stage. By posting behind the scenes content, the institutions give insights of scenes, that are usually not seen by the
26 audience (Bergström & Bäckman 21). The image of the company can evolve for the user and makes following it more attractive (Bergström & Bäckman 35).
“The fact that the companies found at the top list of companies that use Instagram all upload behind the scenes photographs may be seen as one of the underlying reasons of their elevated status” (Bergström & Bäckman 37). Before social media, television was the device where people could follow events from all around the world. Through the internet and, in case of behind the scenes material, Instagram, it got possible to instantly follow these events and get insights about what is happening behind the scenes. Especially Instagram removes this limitation and makes content accessible that other platforms do not (Bergström & Bäckman 43). This makes the posting of behind the scenes photography on Instagram so appealing for the follower and should not be omitted.
5. Utilizing the different features that are available on Instagram
a. Posting videos next to photos
b. Using the captions and hashtags
c. Uploading content on Instagram stories
d. Saving content in highlights
Instagram offers several different features. By using them, an institution can influence the level of interaction and trust of the user (Bergström & Bäckman 44).
6. Balance between follower and following
Virtanen et. al state in their study, that the company should keep a balance between follower and following. An account with a lot more following than follower may be seen as a spam account, an account that uses bots to randomly follows hundreds of accounts. An approach here would be to unfollow all accounts that do not follow the company back (472).
27 7. Interaction with the Instagram followers
As already mentioned above for company specific hashtags and co-creation, Instagram is the platform with an especially high level of usage for interaction and engagement (Virtanen et. al 471).
People like to talk about their experiences and wish for involvement. Through social media, a lot of limitations concerning this interactive part have been removed. Users get more possibilities for communication, be it with other users or the company itself. The possibility to comment and response under the posted content of the institutions enables the follower to communicate directly with the institution itself (Bergström & Bäckman 18, 19). This “(...) provides an ideal platform for companies to build loyalty to their brand” (Bergström & Bäckman 38). By involving users in conversations amongst themselves and with the institution, trust can be evolved, which is an important part in creating loyalty (Bergström & Bäckman 40).
In “Follow for follow: marketing of a start-up company on Instagram”, by Henrik Virtanen et al., following and liking is considered “(...) as the primary social behaviour on Instagram, and leaving a comment as the secondary social behaviour” (472). Liking and commenting are the most common ways of interacting with followers. Virtanen et al. study showed, that the practice of liking and commenting, the interaction with followers,
strengthens the relationship with them (480).
8. Reposting the followers content
Not only through company specific hashtags, the word-of-mouth process can be utilized by companies, but also with reposting the users pictures. The posts of followers that are tagged with the institutions' account or hashtag are very well to be shared. This lets the bond between company and follower become stronger, gives another opportunity for interaction, and evolve their brand recognition. Reposting lets the user become a part of the development process (Bergström & Bäckman 19, 34).
For the content analysis of the two Instagram accounts the general features such as follower numbers, shared posts, and the number of highlight stories were noted first. The
28 frequency of content sharing was taken into account as well. Then a more specific look at the accounts was taken by comparing the accounts to the above mentioned eight aspects.
The Haus der Kunst uses Instagram since the 14.11.2013 and the Alte Pinakothek since the 30.07.2014. For point eight, reposting the followers content, and four, behind the scenes photography, the entire content was used for the analysis to have an overview since when and how often images of the followers are reposted and if or how often behind the scenes content is posted. For point seven the last 27 weeks were analysed. On the 04.10.2018 the exhibition “Florence and its painters” was mentioned for the first time on the Instagram account of the Pinakothek. Therefore, this timeframe was chosen. To analyse all 356 respectively 525 posts on comments, responses and likes would go beyond the scope of the manual analysis. In order to be able to compare the profiles of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek in terms of likes and followers, the pictures that were liked by more than 800 people at the Haus der Kunst and by more than 400 people at the Alte Pinakothek, which corresponds to approximately 2.36% of the total followers of the respective account, were chosen for a more detailed analysis. The number 800 for the Haus der Kunst account was chosen since 800 or more likes turned out to be the top third of the most liked posts in the overall view. Because the two analysed accounts do not have the same amount of followers the percentage share was taken here in order to be able to draw a comparison at the end. Point two, technical quality of posted content, and five, utilizing the different features that are available on Instagram, were as well analysed for the whole posted content while for point three, the snapshot aesthetic, a time frame of one year was chosen, to have insights of the current state of this practice.
3.2.3 Google Chrome helper tool for Instagram
For point seven of the content analysis, the balance between those they follow and those following back, a digital methods online tool was used. Therefore the Google Chrome browser has to be installed and the ‘Helper Tools for Instagram’ have to be downloaded from the Chrome web store. In the first step, the profile of the studied account on Instagram has to be opened and the helper tool needs to get activated. Another window will open then where
29 username, the prefered output and the sum of the profiles that follow and are followed by the chosen profile have to be entered in the boxes provided. When clicking on ‘Get Insta Users’ one gets directed to another page where the followers and followed by profiles will be received with profile names, IDs, user profile page URL, etc.. The table shows who is following, who the account follows and the intersections of them, called mutual followers. The list can then be exported to Excel.
3.3 How users make use of Instagrams affordance
As already mentioned in the chapter of affordances on Instagram, the platform's affordances are important to stay relevant for the user. Instagram adapted more features over the years. In the beginning, the platform was all about uploading photos and using the Instagram filters to edit them, tag locations and other information. Today, in 2019, users also have the possibility to upload videos into their Instagram Stories, one of Instagram's biggest innovations that they launched in August 2016, tag people and locations on posts, use gifs, etc. (McCracken).
Looking through the eight years of Instagrams history, one can see, that the app with its affordances changed from a very social aspect to a more commercial one including ads and shopping links. Still, photo and video sharing is the main point done on Instagram, the story feature, however, is Instagram's most effective update and catches hundreds of millions of followers here (Von Bronewski n. pag.).
Looking into the affordances of Instagram helps to set different focuses on the content analysis and especially to better investigate the point of use of the different available features on Instagram. It gives information about whether or how the two institutions use the different features Instagram offers, like the popular Instagram Stories for example, and what they could do differently or better to be more successful on Instagram.
30 4. Findings
Conducting interviews with the social media representatives of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, as well as the interview with an art historian who offers guided tours of the Munich cultural scene, give a good view of the current usage of new media of these institutions and their audience, as well as the challenges they are facing with digitalisation. The content analysis of the two Instagram accounts additionally gives an insight into the actual online practice of the two museums. Besides it can be analysed what followers like most, which posts are the most popular and what could be different or improved in terms of attracting followers and thus potential visitors to the museum.
All data of the content analysis on Instagram were retrieved for the Alte Pinakothek on 17. April 2019 and for the Haus der Kunst on 18. April 2019.
4.1 Instagram - Everything we do in digital leads to the original
What quickly became clear during the interviews is the importance of Instagram for museums. It is seen as a valuable tool for promotion, education and informing. The change through digitisation might have actually been a slow process but in the last five years social media, like Instagram, has been used, especially to reach out to young people, to get connected with them (Lindner-Haigis art historian). Not only the worlds biggest and most popular museums use Instagram, like the Louvre (2.9 million followers) or MoMA (4.5 million followers), but also smaller institutions. The importance of this platform is taken seriously and the advantages that come with it are becoming more and more obvious to the responsible people at the museum.
“Instagram is important because it's the channel that is used to reach a younger target group than Facebook and because the channel is much more interactive. (...) It's also the perfect channel for art because you can let the art speak for itself and add content accordingly. You don't have to write much about it, but you have the possibility to explain something about the work, to convey content. But the picture speaks for itself in the first
31 place and that's why I personally like Instagram very much”, says Lili Christoph-Homberg, who is responsible for the social media channels at Haus der Kunst.
In addition, Instagram works as free advertising, getting a lot of interaction without having to place expensive ads.
Talking to Max Westphal it was obvious, that the Alte Pinakothek as well sees its young target audience using Instagram. The platform gives the opportunity to interact with visitors and interested people, be it through pictures, videos, comments or stories. The exhibition teams know by now, that there are young people who photograph the exhibition, who interact with art, and who have their own view and comments. “It is very important for us to consciously take this into consideration and to perceive it. Social media is an opportunity and a chance for us. In general, we are interested in addressing people”, explains Max Westphal, who is responsible for the digital communication at the Alte Pinakothek.
It is especially important, that curators, who have the superintendence of exhibitions and collections, realize the importance of social media and use it for their advantage. There needs to be an interplay between the curators and the social media representatives. Christoph-Homberg notices thankfully, that she does not have to fight the curators so much anymore in her position or make social media somehow appealing to them. “They understood the relevance of social media and that is important” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst). Instagram often helps to communicate the exhibition to interested people and visitors.
The Alte Pinakothek as well sees Instagram as a chance and opportunity to involve visitors more in what is happening. It is about creating access to the art that is exhibited in the museum and to address people in general. “Everything we do in digital leads to the original, that is an addition to what we do in the exhibition rooms” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
Another sign for the ever increasing acceptance of digitisation and social media is the cancellation of the no-photo-policy in most cases. Some years ago in most of the art institutions, it was not allowed to take photos, this has changed significantly. For a lot of museums, a ban on taking photos is no option anymore, which also applies to the Alte Pinakothek, as Westphal states.
32 “We sometimes have various lending contracts for an exhibition, where the lenders do not allow the objects being photographed. This, of course, presents you with the challenge of how to deal with it. Is it forbidden to photograph in the exhibition or do we stick a 'No Photo' notice in front of these five, six, seven works? The trend is to equip these works with such a hint. For us, a photo ban in the exhibition is no longer an option” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
It is practically impossible to keep people from using their smartphones these days. The effort alone of having the staff to monitor the visitors around the clock and then tell them not to take pictures is not possible in a reasonable way. So the acceptance of photos in museums and the often associated uploading of photos on social media channels happens more or less involuntarily or with an acceptance to no longer have a hundred percent influence here. Of course, a lot of advantages come with social media and Instagram and the fact of the unenforceable “no-photo-policy” seems more negative at first than it actually is. The El Anatsui exhibition, that currently takes place at the Haus der Kunst, for example, is a so-called very “instagramable” exhibition due to the size and brightness of the artworks. For that reason, it is very hard to ban photography there. Lenders of two artworks nevertheless did not allow photography in their cases which confronted the institution and supervisors with extreme problems. “These works of art have to be monitored all the time. Photography is simply uncontrollable in the meantime, which is nice for us in a way, people post a lot from the exhibition.” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst). They then spoke again to the lenders and convinced them to release the artworks to the public for private purposes. This was a great relief for the museum staff and supervisors, which otherwise had to guard the artworks around the clock.
4.1.1 Mechanical reproduction and authenticity
As Walter Benjamin writes and is already stated in the theoretical framework chapter above, photography and film are changing art and its reception through mechanical mass reproduction and the appeal of artworks to the masses (14). The reproduction of art and photography of art that gets uploaded on social media has been a big topic for quite some time. More and more art is digitised and accessible online, like for example with the online
33 Bavarian State Painting Collection. This raises the question of whether it is still necessary to visit the museum when you can see and read everything online. Do you lose visitors due to digitalisation, especially as access is available online? The Alte Pinakothek’s argument for digitisation is findability. “The more visible our collection is on the net, the more visible is where the pictures come from and where the originals are” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek). This opens the exhibition to a wider audience and on the other hand gives access to those who cannot visit the museum, be it due to financial reasons, geographical distance or health issues. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam serves as a prime example and shows, that this kind of online reproduction works, argues Westphal. You can make a thousand reproductions but all of them will recur to the original. “Our claim remains: Experience originals. Because every image of it leads us to the original. In the long run, we would also like to create targeted educational programs for our online collection, such as the Rijksmuseum, for example, or the Met” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek). The Haus der Kunst stands behind the point of visibility that rises with online exhibitions, digitised art, and Instagram as well. “You might also reduce some thresholds for people who don't know what to expect and then might get the desire to visit and see the art. That outweighs the people who say I've seen it online, I don’t need to go to the museum anymore”, explains Christoph-Homberg when talking about the digitalisation of art and uploaded photography of artworks on Instagram. Constanze Lindner-Haigis sees it in a similar way. She says, that art on Instagram or at online collections offers a great possibility to inform yourself, do research and get information.
“I would claim to take the step into the museum and really stand in front of the originals is still very important for most people. That's a completely different experience again because I think it's also something to go into such a building with the consciousness to see art now and experience original sizes, see the colors, maybe see a real Picasso. That's what makes a visit to the museum so attractive and an online collection can't replace the museum” (Lindner-Haigis art historian).
Christoph-Homberg agrees with Lindner-Haigis statement. The physical experience of art, the visit to a museum, is still important for the young generation in her opinion. You cannot compare the experience of an online exhibition to a museum visit. She often goes through the Haus der Kunst and looks at the people, what they do, how they react to the artworks, and how they stand in reverence of the art and are enthusiastic. “It’s just about the certain
34 moment when people realize how important such a work is. When you stand in front of it, it’s always something different again” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
Besides the case of reproduction, Walter Benjamin, as well as Denis Dutton, talk about the authenticity that gets lost when it comes to photography, a copy, of the original artwork. Westphal does not see the same problem with authenticity here. For him, the authenticity of the artworks “(...) is preserved to the extent that we know that the works are still hanging in the museum.” The Alte Pinakothek works a lot with the contemporary examination of the old art, which was especially shown in their latest exhibition “Florence and its painters”, where they used a masterpiece of Filippino Lippi (1457 - 1504) for their exhibitions poster motif (see Image 1). This artwork shows a portrait of a young Florentine man. They changed this masterpiece so that the man wears now Ray Ban glasses. This editing technique reminds on Instagram, as they offer similar processing features to their users. They also had a campaign with the Blitz Club, which is a music night club in Munich, where the Alte Pinakothek worked together with a graphic artist on a project where old works of art were combined with current themes of the new media such as machine learning, face recognition, and artificial intelligence. Westphal explains, that you do not need to talk about losing authenticity but as a suggestion that art can be a starting point for new design objects and new design ideas, “(...) and this takes little of the aura and authenticity out of the image hanging here in the room” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
All three interviewees do not share Walter Benjamin's concerns of mechanical reproduction and loss of authenticity and aura.
35
Image 1: Exhibition poster Florence and its painters and original Painting. Picture source: Alte Pinakothek
4.1.2 New media vs. museums?
The Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Political Education) represent the position, that museums today face increasing competition from new media (Weibel et al. n. pag “Museen und Gesellschaft”.).
The art historian Constanze Lindner-Haigis says that she would be cautious with the word competition here.
“I think with the tendency that young people also like to go to museums one can, of course, do something with the new media, use these new possibilities for oneself. I don't know if you should see that as competition. It's certainly a big competitor to classic media like print media. I also see great competition in film, but when you visit a museum, you go into a house and that's much more connected with the experience. Maybe it could be more of an event, that you go out with friends, but I don't think it's real competition here” (Lindner-Haigis art historian).
Christoph-Homberg suspects, that the competition thought might come because new media is something new and new things often frighten people at first. The advantages of new media
36 have to be recognized nevertheless. Questions arise because the development of the internet is progressing so fast but” (...) the Internet will remain, the social media channels will remain. Of course, you have to find a way to deal with it, but I don’t think it’s a competition. (...) Maybe it will just take some time until everything has settled down ” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
There is a constant attention competition where one has to be made visible and position oneself to remain visible as a cultural institution in the flood of attention that reaches people every day. This can be a competitive situation but synergies are found here that help these institutions to become more visible in new media (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
Here again, a different view between theory and practice becomes obvious.
4.1.3 Photographic capturing of art influencing the perception?
The easing or reversal of the no-photo-policies has, of course, led to more and more people taking photos with their smartphones in the exhibitions. On the one hand, this is an advantage for the museum because these photos most of the time get uploaded afterwards and the institution gets tagged and achieves a greater range online. On the other hand, that means, that visitors not only look at art but also take photographs at the same time, which may lead to distraction.
Lindner-Haigis knows, that pictures are important to young people. She noticed during her tours through museums, that most of the young people take selfies in the museum or just pictures of the paintings or sculptures to capture their experience of the museum visit. As long as the online device with which the photos are taken does not get to a distraction Lindner-Haigis has not at all a problem with this development of capturing an exhibition.
There are already museums who have a photo free Tuesday, for example, to compensate this capturing in museums as there are always some people who feel disturbed by the visitors who constantly take pictures of the artworks or themselves during an exhibition (Westphal Alte Pinakothek). At the moment, the Alte Pinakothek does not consider any such arrangements with regard to this topic.
37 Christoph-Homberg sees two sides in this debate here.
“On the one hand, of course, there are the people who now only look through their smartphone camera. One would like to say that they should just sit down, look at it in peace and let it have its impact on them. Because you can already see people who only look at their mobile phones and no longer at the work itself, although they are here to look at it in real life. On the other hand, it's great that you can practically take the art home with you. You can photograph it, you can collect inspiration, you can work with it for yourself and collect and share it. It's a bit like the social question of using mobile phones and smartphones, but I have to say that there's, of course, an added value” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
Christoph-Homberg noticed very fast, that the current El Anatsui exhibition is very ‘instagramable’. After the first three weeks since the opening, 1600 contributions have been shared on their social media channels. “Compared to other exhibitions, that's an incredible amount after three weeks. And it's also noticeable on Instagram that the Like numbers go up a lot compared to other works. Of course, this is very positive for our social media communication” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst). When people take pictures in the exhibition they usually share them online afterwards. This can be pictures of the artwork or pictures with the visitor in front of the work, explains Christoph-Homberg. “It's also an immense reach that comes from sharing photos on Instagram and of course attracts visitors who want to see it, the exhibition, the artworks” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
The interviews confirm that photography influences the perception of art. But this is not only seen as negative, more a concession to the behaviour of young people which is heavily influenced by social media but also gives a new perspective on art.
4.1.4 Contemporary art vs. old masters, non-collecting vs. permanent collection
What makes the comparison of these case studies so interesting is that the two cultural institutions differ in two things. The Haus der Kunst is a non-collecting museum for contemporary art, while the Alte Pinakothek has a permanent collection of old masters. This suggests that the institutions might face different challenges and opportunities.
38 Constanze Lindner-Haigis sees a great chance for contemporary art to use the new media in an artistically way, that this kind of art has certain modernity or actuality. It is not that delimited with only paintings and sculptures but has performances with music, with movement in a room, maybe dance elements, etc.. It is much more open.
“On the other hand, I've often experienced that younger people, in particular, are very critical when it comes to contemporary art. Above all, the old question, is that still art? Young people are very critical. You try to explain that sometimes you have to see things from other angles and that creativity is a lot. It's not just about proving your ability, that I can draw well, that I can paint well. The old masters have that then. In the Alte Pinakothek, you will find for example Albrecht Dürer and his fantastic oil paintings, exactly painted and great with the colours. I often get the impression that you can't separate the old and the new art” (Lindner-Haigis art historian).
The Haus der Kunst can state, that their art is much more lively. They have the artists on site, many performances and events. Another advantage they see is the correlation between young artists, like at the capsule exhibition, and the number of art students and a wider young audience.
When it comes to the representation of art on Instagram, contemporary art seems to be more exciting. But the exhibition ‘Florence and its painters’ at the Alte Pinakothek shows that even art from the 15th century can be presented in a modern way, attracting young people. Their advertising posters with the painting of Filippino Lippi shows that very well. “The idea of putting on Ray Ban glasses for this beautiful young man from Filippino Lippi, who was so present, so modern at the time, and having Florence reflected in them and adapting him to the present day, was a successful marketing campaign in my opinion, and I think we should do more of that with old art” (Lindner-Haigis art historian).
At first glance it seems, that contemporary art is more attractive to young people, but the Alte Pinakothek proved that with the right presentation, old masters are appealing for the young audience as well.
What both, Westphal from the Alte Pinakothek and Christoph-Homberg from the Haus der Kunst, see as a barrier when it comes to contemporary art is the issue of intellectual property.
39 “Contemporary art poses quite different difficulties in digital mediation” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek). Museums with really old masters that have all the rights in their possession have the opportunity to do a lot of things with this art. This is never the case for the Haus der Kunst with their contemporary art. “Something like image editing, releasing rights and letting people create something with it, is unlikely to happen unless the artist somehow integrates it into his work and wants to be participative” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst). With artists and lenders who are alive, there is, of course, the chance to talk about how their art can be best positioned and advertised the bigger problem are those artists who no longer live and are represented by the VG Bild-Kunst (Verwaltungsgesellschaft Bild-Kunst), which means that all their rights are preserved there. “In principle, I have to submit a request to VG Bild-Kunst for every picture of an artist that I post that is contemporary, as long as the artists are with VG Bild-Kunst. These are completely different challenges then, I don't have that with the old art, with which I can actually do what I want in the sense” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
Non-collecting museums often have a disadvantage when it comes to tourism.
“For tourists, old masters are simply incredibly interesting. You also notice here in Munich that the tourists go first to the Pinakotheken, then to the Lenbachhaus and then maybe come here to the Haus der Kunst. You first have a look at the world-famous works of art in the city. We don't have our own collection, but changing exhibitions. Then, of course, for the tourist, it also depends on which artist is exhibiting here at the moment. At a blockbuster exhibition like El Anatsui, it might be different. In contemporary art, it's harder to mainstream art and attract a really broad mass. It's easier with the old masters” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
A permanent collection like the Alte Pinakothek with world-famous masterpieces, like Leonardo Da Vinci's ‘Madonna with carnations’, have the advantage that they are internationally famous and attract people by default whereby as a non-collecting museum you have to create constantly exhibitions which get international attention.
40 4.1.5 From the museum to the electronic music club
From time to time the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst organize events on and off side. The intention is to particularly attract a young audience and to inspire them for the institution. The question which arises is, if these events still focus on the art or if it is more about the happening itself?
At the Haus der Kunst, one can see, that formats like their free Thursday or other happenings with event character, attract a lot more young people who are willing to explore art. “For many people, visiting an exhibition is not enough. One then goes with friends to an event which is offered in the museum” (Christoph-Homberg Haus der Kunst).
Another example is the collaboration of the Alte Pinakothek with the Blitz Club, which is a music night club, for the ‘Florence and its painters’ exhibition. Lindner-Haigis was very positive about this collaboration.
“For many people, it's always about the inhibition threshold at the museum, can I go in there at all, can I fit in there, are there then maybe only older people and is it uncool when I walk around there. Why then not lower such an inhibition threshold through such cooperation and see that people go to the museum first and take a look at the whole thing. If you dance afterwards and have fun why not? Maybe you need the experience to see that a visit to a museum can also be fun, that it also gives you something and that you take something with you” (Lindner-Haigis art historian).
Already in the marketing campaign of ‘Florence and its painters’, the goal was to bring the Renaissance art into the present. Next, to the poster motif, the Alte Pinakothek has special evenings like Vino, Arte, Musica or the event with the Blitz Club.
“Here in the old Pinakothek a DJane played and then it went on over at Blitz. These are just those steps where you simply say, hey, they thought about image making, self-portrayal and about fame and honour over 200 years ago, what else do we do today in a certain way and even if the exhibition was about many Christ pictures and Christ representations there are
41 many other aspects in it which are very contemporary and which we of course also simply want to show and open” (Westphal Alte Pinakothek).
Westphal has the opinion, that if a visit to the club can be combined with a visit to the museum this should be seen as something positive, it does something to the people. He experienced that the people at the Blitz evening not only came to drink a beer and then head over to the club, almost everyone went to the exhibition to see the old and famous masterpieces.
This collaboration is a good example using Instagram as a networking tool as the Blitz Club promoted this event via Instagram and therefore a wider community of Instagram users could be addressed.
42 4.2 Instagram use of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst username posts followers following biography
@pinakotheken 365 17,3 Tsd. 702 Art
The Bavarian State Painting Collections: Art from the Late Middle Ages to the present day. #pinakotheken
Opening April 16th: #PinaCaravaggisti
www.pinakothek.de/en/caravaggisti
Barer Straße 29, Munich Germany
@haus_der_kunst 525 33,9 Tsd. 1.096 Museum of Modern Art
Haus der Kunst in Munich is a key global center for contemporary art. #hausderkunst
www.hausderkunst.de/
Prinzregentenstraße 1, Munich, Germany
Table 1: Instagram accounts of Pinakothek and Haus der Kunst (profile pictures, number of posts, follower and following number, bibliography retrieved from respective accounts on 18 April 2019).
As mentioned in the methodology chapter, the two Instagram accounts are analysed under the following eight categories (see Appendix for complete data collection).
4.2.1 Company specific hashtags/ co-creation
Through first observation and comparison of the two accounts, one sees that the Pinakotheken has fewer posts, followers and is fewer people following back (see Table 1). What needs to be considered is, that the Pinakotheken published their first photo on 30. July 2014 while the Haus der Kunst already published theirs on 14. November 2013. So the Haus
43 der Kunst is using the platform Instagram 8,5 months longer than the Pinakotheken. Besides that, the first sight looks quite similar. The two institutions started posting on a more regular basis over the years. Both accounts have the actual name of the institution as their profile name, which makes them be easily found online, and their emblem as profile pictures in clean white black or white blue. In their biography, that is in English, they explain in a short sentence what the institution is about and added a link to their website and the address of the museum. The Alte Pinakothek additional has the date of the upcoming exhibition in its biography. The category under which the Haus der Kunst listed itself is the Museum of Modern Art, the one of the Pinakotheken is Art.
Compared to the annual visitor numbers, Alte Pinakothek 331k (Jahresbericht 2018 230) and Haus der Kunst approximately 170k (Sigg), the Instagram accounts of these two institutions are relatively small.
Both institutions have a specific hashtag that they use to ask people to share content to then sometimes repost it on the museum's profile. The Haus der Kunst uses the hashtag #hausderkunst and the Alte Pinakothek uses #pinakotheken. The Alte Pinakothek has an additional specific hashtag for the respective current exhibition. At the moment it is the Hashtag #PinaCaravaggisti for the exhibition Utrecht, Caravaggio, and Europe. At the exhibition Florence and its painters, it was the hashtag #PinaFlorenz. Both institutions list their hashtags in their Instagram biography.
Since the level of interaction increases by as much as five times through company specific hashtags (Bergström & Bäckman 2), the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst went the right way when it comes to co-creation. Especially the Alte Pinakothek with their individual hashtag for every exhibition does another step forward when it comes to the word-of-mouth process, when users directly search for the specific exhibition hashtag to then find all the content referring to it. With their hashtags, these two institutions take the opportunity to expand their network on Instagram, gain new followers and strengthen the bond to their followers. Co-creation through a company specific hashtag is thus perceived and taken seriously by the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, even though the Haus der Kunst could think about individual hashtags for every exhibition that they could share in their Instagram biography.
44 4.2.2 Technical quality of posted content
If looking at the quality of the contributions, which here means the resolution, editing, and technical contribution, one can say for both profiles that they only use photos and videos with high resolution, good quality. None of the pictures is blurred and even when zooming in you can still see details. The only thing that stands out is, that the Alte Pinakothek used Instagram filters, a way of editing a photo with different colours and light shadings, from the start of their account in July 2014 till May 2017 and the Haus der Kunst from their beginning in November 2013 till October 2016. Because of the use of these filters the quality of the original photo gets lost, colours and lights change, and as well darkened in most cases. This is why both museums stopped using filters, as most Instagram users do today.
Both Instagram accounts have gained in quality and number of followers over the years. The technical quality is one of the first factors that catches the eye of the observer and is a determining reason for users to follow and like posts. The very good technical quality of content that the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek upload on Instagram should, therefore, be maintained.
4.2.3 Snapshot aesthetic
Snapshots are all the posts where people are unaware that a picture is taken of them and where they do not pose for the camera, so photos without special prior arrangement and with obvious spontaneity (“The Art of the Snapshot”). In the case of the museum snapshots are mainly photos with people on it because people make this unarranged, lively and spontaneous setting in a museum. The posts of the last year (04.04.2018 - 17.04.2019) of both accounts were analysed under this given definition.
The Alte Pinakothek had 23 snapshots out of 27 photos with people on it, the Haus der Kunst had 38 snapshots out of 45 photos with people on it, interestingly the percentage of snapshots are 85% for both museums.
45 The Alte Pinakothek has posted a total of 85 photos during this period while the Haus der Kunst posted 146 photos. If now the snapshots are put in correlation, the Alte Pinakothek posted a total of 27% of snapshots and the Haus der Kunst 26%.
As previous studies have shown, snapshots carry a high importance for the user and are preferred to a traditional studio aesthetic (Colliander & Marder 38). Most of the photos from the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek with people on it are snapshots, which is positive. But the percentage of snapshots compared to the rest of the postings is still very low. Knowing that snapshots are very well received by followers, it should definitely be considered to post more of them.
4.2.4 Behind the scenes photography
Behind the scenes photographies are those, which contain contributions that are normally not accessible to the public. When going through the different behind the scenes posts, different categories became clear which regard these posts (see Table 3). A distinction was made here to have a better understanding of what the behind the scenes posts were about.
Alte Pinakothek Haus der Kunst
preparing exhibition 13x 23x
artist 2x 6x
performance preparations --- 2x
pictures from the archive 1x 1x
employees of the institution 3x 2x
behind social media/ 2x 1x livestream/ shootings
conservation of artwork 1x ---
depots of the museum 1x ---
press conference 2x --- Table 3: Different categories of behind the scenes photography with number of frequency for the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst.
46 In total, the Alte Pinakothek had 25 posts with behind the scenes content while the Haus der Kunst had 35 posts. These are 7% of behind the scenes posts at the account of the Alte Pinakothek and 6,7% at the Haus der Kunst. Table 3 clearly shows that most of these posts were about the preparations for an upcoming exhibition. These pictures show people hanging up paintings and arranging art. The work of art is usually seen here from the front and the people who work with it have their backs to the viewer. In addition, one sees a lot of equipment like a lifting platform or ladders which one does not find otherwise in an exhibition (see Image 2 and 3).
Image 2: Examples for pictures of ‘preparing exhibition’ from the Instagram Account of Alte Pinakothek, 12.04.2019, 08.10.2018, 07.03.2017
Image 3: Examples for pictures of ‘preparing exhibition’ from the Instagram Account of the Haus der Kunst, 04.03.2019, 21.02.2019, 07.09.2018
The Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek show pictures of the preparation of their exhibitions which are normally not accessible to the visitor. Especially Instagram, besides other social media platforms, stands out when it comes to behind the scenes photography. The most successful Instagram accounts of companies all upload behind the scenes photography. Following their example is the right way to gain reach and followers as well
47 (Bergström & Bäckman 37). Analysing the behind the scenes content of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, it becomes apparent, that this kind of content is not presented very often. Only 7% (Alte Pinakothek) respectively 6.7% (Haus der Kunst) behind the scenes posts are uploaded on the two accounts. Especially museums would have a much broader ability to conduct behind the scenes material so posting more of it would be a great opportunity to maintain the interest of the followers and to gain the interest of new ones.
4.2.5 Utilizing the different features that are available on Instagram
Instagram offers a lot of different features which expanded over the years. It started with a photo sharing platform in 2010 but also videos can be uploaded since 20th of June, 2013 (“The History of Instagram”). It is possible to use the captions to describe the posts and use hashtags in order to achieve a greater range. As mentioned already in the methodology chapter above, the Instagram stories became the most popular feature Instagram ever had. It gives the opportunity to upload videos which disappear after 24 hours. They can nevertheless be saved in the highlight section of any Instagram profile.
Looking at all the uploads of the Alte Pinakothek from the past five years since starting their account, 12 videos were posted next to 353 posts with photos. The caption section was used for every post to give information or just comments as well as to use hashtags. The feature Instagram stories is also used by the Alte Pinakothek, especially for exhibition openings and surveys. At events, they sometimes do live videos on their story. Some of the stories were saved in four different highlights with the headings Klee, Vermeer, #PinaFlorenz, and Caravaggisti.
The Haus der Kunst also used all these features on their Instagram profile. From all their uploads there have been 52 videos next to 474 posts with photos. They are using the captions and hashtags in the same way as the Alte Pinakothek. Nearly everyday videos and photos are uploaded in the Instagram stories and one of the newest features, Instagram TV, that allows you to upload even longer videos, is used by them as well. The account of the Haus der Kunst has six different highlights with the headings 30K, Jörg Immendorff, 2019, #behindthescene, #ElAnatsuiHDK, and This Week.
48 As mentioned in the methodology chapter, through using the different features Instagram offers, an institution can influence the level of interaction and trust of the user. The Alte Pinakothek as well as the Haus der Kunst use almost all features and give therefore their users a great variety of ways to interact.
4.2.6 Balance between followers and following
To get the relation between those the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst follow and those they follow back, the Google Chrome helper tool for Instagram was used.
That showed that out of the 17.3 k followers of the Alte Pinakothek, the Alte Pinakothek follows 443 accounts back. The rest of the 700 accounts that the Alte Pinakothek follows, 257, are not followers of their account (see Table 4).
The Haus der Kunst has 33.9 k followers from which they follow 497 accounts back. They follow 1.096 accounts in total so 599 they follow are not followers of the Haus der Kunst account (see Table 4).
Alte Pinakothek Haus der Kunst
(A) Follower 17.300 33.900
(B) Following 700 1.096
(C) Mutual following 443 497
Balance (C/A*100) 100 : 2,6 100 : 1,5 Table 4: Instagram followers of Alte Pinakothek and Haus der Kunst
To not be seen as a spam account, a balance between follower and following should be kept here. Virtanen et al. suggest to unfollow all accounts that do not follow the company back (472). Looking at the follower numbers of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, one sees that the number of following is much lower than the number of followers. It is therefore very unlikely that they could be mistaken for a spam account. Both accounts have a good amount of mutual followers, accounts they follow which follow them back. If this relation is maintained in this way, the balance should be secured.
49 4.2.7 Interaction with the Instagram followers
To analyse the interaction between the followers and the accounts of the Alte Pinakothek and the Haus der Kunst the comment and like section of the posts from the 04.10.2018 (the first post that considered the exhibition Florence and its painters) till the 12.04.2019 were looked at. A difference was made between the comments of the other users and of the institution itself, which were responses to the comments of other users. In total the two accounts posted 60 (Alte Pinakothek) and 71 (Haus der Kunst) images and videos in that chosen time period that were then analysed.
Looking at the balance of comments and responses from the Alte Pinakothek, the comments overweight the responses. Most of the comments, however, were feedback, approvals, encouragement or simply emojis. The Pinakothek replied to most of the questions users posted under images or videos, which resulted in a lot of the responses at the end. Nevertheless, most of the responses from the Alte Pinakothek have been on comments that just simply announced their encouragement or gratitude for the great exhibition (see Image 4).
Image 4: responses on comments at the Instagram account of the Pinakotheken that expressed encouragement or gratitude.
The 60 analysed posts had 300 comments and 86 responses, which means that the Alte Pinakothek responses to nearly 29% of the comments under their posts. Even though not every comment got a response from the Alte Pinakothek, they liked at least nearly all the comments under their posts to let the people know that they saw and read it.
50 For the Haus der Kunst, the comments also overweight the responses. Other than the Alte Pinakothek the Haus der Kunst did not reply to that many comments. The 71 posts from the analysed period had 533 comments and 6 responses which is just a little bit more than 1% of responses to the comments. Nevertheless, the Haus der Kunst also liked nearly all the comments. The responses they made have been to questions and some few to compliments (see Image 5).
Even if the comments are much less than the likes of the posts, it is important to take them seriously. Through responding to comments and stay in conversation with the followers, the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek can create loyalty and evolve trust (Bergström & Bäckman 40). Relationships can be strengthened here, so it is important for these two institutions to increase their numbers of responses. Especially the Haus der Kunst which just responses to a little bit more than 1% of the comments they get.
Image 5: responses on comments at the Instagram account of the Haus der Kunst which most of the time were answers to questions and some few on compliments.
51 4.2.8 Reposting the followers content
When analysing the content on reposts it quickly becomes apparent that the Alte Pinakothek is reposting by far more than the Haus der Kunst. While the Alte Pinakothek started reposting content in May 2015, the Haus der Kunst is only doing it since August 2018. That is why the Haus der Kunst only reposted ten photos while the Alte Pinakothek had 30 posts with sometimes uploading more than one repost (see Table 5).
In this step, it is interesting to see on how many pictures the two institutions were tagged on. Looking at the past 12 months here (15.4.2018 - 17.4.2019), the account of the Alte Pinakothek was tagged on 300 photos while the Haus der Kunst profile was tagged on 680 photos.
Even if the Haus der Kunst would have a great opportunity to repost the content of their followers, they nearly never take this opportunity. Reposting is an easy process and holds a lot of advantages for the institution. Content does not have to be produced, the follower provides it. To strengthen the bond to their followers and to motivate their followers to continue posting pictures of their visits and tag the institution on them, both, the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, should repost more.
Alte Pinakothek Haus der Kunst
2019 5 reposts 4 reposts
2018 13 reposts 6 reposts
2017 1 repost ------
2016 1 repost ------
2015 10 reposts ------Table 5: Amount of reposts of Alte Pinakothek and Haus der Kunst
52 4.3 Most liked posts
The likes of the posts were analysed for the same time period as the comments as responses (04.10.2018 - 12.04.2019). In total the Alte Pinakothek got 26.708 likes on their 60 posts which is an average of 445 likes on each post and means that 2.6% of the follower click the heart button on their photos and videos. When looking at the same amount of posts, which would be 60 in this case, the Haus der Kunst got 28.260 likes which is an average of 471 likes on each post and 1.4% of their followers.
To analyse the most liked posts a closer look at the photos and videos from the top third of the most liked posts in the overall view was made. For the Haus der Kunst that were 800 or more likes which are 2.4% of their followers. To have a reasonable comparison between the account of the Haus der Kunst and the account of the Pinakotheken this 2.4% were also taken for the Alte Pinakothek, which in their case of 17.3 k followers were at least 415 likes (see Appendix).
What became immediately apparent is, that, in relation to their follower number, the posts of the Alte Pinakothek receive much more likes than those of the Haus der Kunst.
The posts were also analysed on the category they could be sorted in to have an overview of what is depicted on these popular posts (see Table 6 and Table 7).
Haus der Kunst: Quantity of most liked posts Category
5/6 Snapshots
1/6 Portrait Table 6: Categories and quantity of most liked posts of the Haus der Kunst
53 Alte Pinakothek: Quantity of most liked posts Category
14/31 Paintings (hanging, zoomed, etc.)
10/31 Reposts (6/10 of them snapshots)
4/31 Behind the scenes
1/31 Magazine
1/31 Museum building from outside
1/31 Workshop Table 7: Categories and quantity of most liked posts of the Alte Pinakothek
For the analysis the three most liked posts from the 07.10.2018 till the 16.04.2019 were picked.
54 Most liked post of the Haus der Kunst
Image 6: Instagram post of the Haus der Kunst from the 15th of March.
The most liked post of the Haus der Kunst from the chosen time period is a portrait (see Image 6). The man on the photo is Okwui Enwezor, the curator of the current exhibition El Anatsui and former director of the Haus der Kunst. On the picture, he is sitting on a table at a bar, the Goldene Bar which is in the same building as the Haus der Kunst. Looking at the caption, one can conclude that this is a post in memory of Okwui Enwezor who passed away on the day this post was published. “He was one of the most important exhibition organizers in the world, the first African-born curator of the Venice Biennale, and the first non-European to direct the world-famous documenta” (Döing n. pag.).
55 Second most liked post of the Haus der Kunst
Image 7: Instagram post of the Haus der Kunst from the 9th of March.
The second most liked picture of the Haus der Kunst shows a snapshot of a woman standing in front of the artworks from the current El Anatsui exhibition (see Image 7). As characteristic for these museum snapshots, one sees the woman from behind while she is looking at the artwork that fills the whole wall. Her black coat stands in contrast to the brighter, partly reflecting work of art. The caption gives an overall impression of the artwork and its size, as well as introducing the artist's West African roots. This post was published one day after the exhibition opening and is the first post of one of the artworks with a visitor next to it.
56 Third most liked post of the Haus der Kunst
Image 8: Instagram post of the Haus der Kunst from the 19th of March.
The third most liked post of the Haus der Kunst is another one of the category snapshots (see Image 8). It was published eleven days after the exhibition opening of El Anatsui and shows visitors during a tour through the exhibition. The photo was taken again in front of one of the artworks that fill the whole wall because they are so huge. In the caption, the happening of the picture is described. It is about a tour with architect Francis Kéré and the curator Damian Lentini.
57 Most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek
Image 9: Instagram post of the Alte Pinakothek from the 17th of October.
On the most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek, a snapshot is shown (see Image 9). A woman stands in front of a painting with the back to the observer. This snapshot nevertheless could be arranged because the woman is standing in a position that she does not cover too much of the painting and the caption tells the user, that the exhibition of Florence and its Painters will open that night. The woman then has to be an employee of the Alte Pinakothek because the photo was posted right before the opening. This is also the first photo of the ‘finished’ exhibition, ready for the visitors, with a person next to one of the artworks.
58 Second most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek
Image 10: Instagram post of the Alte Pinakothek from the 25th of January.
The second most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek shows a woman, walking down the staircase of the Alte Pinakothek (see Image 10). The staircase itself can be seen as an architectural work of art in the case of the Alte Pinakothek. It is a repost from a visitor. Most of the black and white picture is filled with the staircase and the shadows and sun that comes in from the windows. Only at a second glance, one sees the woman in the left of the photo, walking down the stairs. From the caption and the tag, it gets clear, that this is a repost. In the caption, visitors get motivated to take pictures and upload them with a tag of the Alte Pinakothek or their hashtag so that the Alte Pinakothek becomes aware of it.
59 Third most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek
Image 11: Instagram post of the Alte Pinakothek from the 4th of April.
A photograph of a self-portrait by Albrecht Dürer as well as reposts of posters with the same image make the third most liked post of the Alte Pinakothek (see Image 11). This post includes more than one photo. The caption says that this is a painting and the poster of the upcoming exhibition Utrecht, Caravaggio, and Europe. Information and a question are made in the caption to involve other users in a conversation and to draw attention to another account that engages with this portrait by Dürer.
60 5. Discussion
The aim of this study was to set a spot on art museums in times of digitisation and how they are challenged to get the younger generation to visit their institutions. The way of connecting with them on Social Media, especially Instagram, was analysed to show, how best to seize the chance of reaching out to younger people and potential visitors. In addition, the study wanted to explore if a different approach is needed depending on the museum’s art and set up. In this case, one with old masterpieces and its own collection, and a museum presenting contemporary art but not having a collection were chosen.
Instead of analysing the accounts of followers, this study looked at the accounts of the institutions itself. To get insights, the Instagram accounts of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek were analysed, and interviews with the social media representatives of these institutions and an art historian were carried out.
At a first glance, the interviewees had a similar point of views of the difficulties to get the attention of the younger generation, the chances social media brings with it and the opportunities of art in times of digitisation. Especially Instagram gives a great chance to be interactive with the followers. On no other social media platform, this works in such an easy and successful way.
5.1 Competition or alliance?
A central finding of this research is, that it is not a competitive struggle between social media and traditional institutions, instead, it is togetherness. Digitised art is an addition to the real artworks in museums and not a risk of losing visitors. It is more of an opportunity for extended visibility of the institution and the art. Online exhibitions or collections do not take away something from the exhibitions in the museums, they lead to them, Instagram is a good example of this.
Photography of artworks uploaded online, kind of mechanical reproduction, does not replace or destroy the real artwork. It is further access to art and reduces thresholds.
61 Especially Max Westphal from the Alte Pinakothek did not like the expression of new media ‘versus’ art. From the very beginning, he was against the idea of competition. The theorists like the Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Political Education) see new media more as a competition or a concern, the practitioners see it more as an opportunity to be seized and invested in.
Walter Benjamin argued that art and its reception are subject to change, especially through the development of photography and film which is because of the possibility of mass production, as well as a new form of depict reality and therefore a change in collective perception (Benjamin 14). This cannot be entirely agreed within this study. It is true that art is in the process of creation or was during the digitization process is partly influenced by this process, but art that already existed before has not changed. Although there are online reproductions of some of the original works, the artwork itself has not been affected.
Denis Dutton argued, that the painter of an artwork may not see the painted object in the same way the artist did while painting. It would be concluded from this that a photo cannot replace an original painting in a museum as being just a copy of it (Dutton n. pag.). Therefore it would also be questionable if a photograph of an artwork on Instagram can be able to transmit the authenticity of the experience. That this is in a way true became clear during this study. Important to mention nevertheless is, that this is probably not the purpose of a photo or video on Instagram. It is not there to replace an artwork, it is there to represent an experience, a museum visit, and to make part of it accessible to the online world to maybe inspire other people to go to the museum and see the original artwork.
Through Instagram art became accessible to an even broader public than before with museums. As John Berger writes about photography, which is able to reproduce objects, Instagram brings photography to visibility of much larger dimensions. Photography, that Berger talks about, becomes accessible to an even bigger mass and expands to higher visibility for the museums (Berger 140).
Important to mention is, that the alleged competition between social media and traditional institutions is not only something that happens in the virtual world but also includes offline events like club evenings or the free Thursdays. Those events let suggest, that the competition is broader than the online representation of artworks and includes in actual fact all of the
62 leisure time experience economy. The art institutions should find a way to integrate themselves into this economy, especially when it comes to a young audience. The analog and digital life is not separated anymore, to be successful you have to integrated this fact into campaigns for art exhibitions.
5.2 Getting the attention of today’s young audience
Today's younger generations, the digital natives and millennials, are represented on Social Media. Social Media is not only used for private purposes anymore but got also interesting for companies and institutions. Especially Instagram, as already mentioned, plays a big role when it comes to addressing younger target groups. Next to traditional exhibitions a lot of museums have events, that are promoted on social media, to interest the people in the first step and from there in the next step motivate them to go to the exhibitions. A lot of exhibition openings are therefore smaller events with often drinks and food. The Alte Pinakothek, for example, has events like Vino, Arte Musica, which is an after-work event where the exhibitions can be looked at together with vine and music. Especially the Alte Pinakothek with its old artworks tries to combine the old masters with today's modern time. The cooperation with the Blitz Club in Munich is a good example here. Interests of the younger generation like music, dancing and partying are combined with a visit to the museum. The Haus der Kunst attracts younger generations with their free first Thursday of every month where the entry is free from 18.00 - 22.00.
In times of restricted budgets museums are of course in competition with other institutions and events. One of the best arguments to get financial support is of course the number of visitors being a key performance indicator. Therefore it is a balancing act for museums to provide high quality and entertainment to attract young people at the same time. Being cynical you could even argue, it does not matter if they come for art or party as long as it brings money. As seen at the Louvre, they probably had this huge number of young visitors not because of their art, but due to the music video of Beyonce and Jay-Z that was shot there. On the other hand the video itself plays very well with the artwork shown here for example “Portrait d’une negresse” by Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1800) which is one of the very view painting in the Louvre showing a black woman being not a slave. The interaction of art and
63 commerce is a give and take, a closer investigation would be interesting but is beyond the scope of this thesis.
5.3 Different art, same app roach
Comparing the Instagram feeds of a museum with classic art to a museum with contemporary art one notices that they use it to a large extent in a very similar way. Both use nearly all the features available on Instagram like posting videos, Instagram Stories or highlights.
As expected, because contemporary art often comes with performances and other more lively content that can be very good captured in videos, the Haus der Kunst uploads much more videos in their feed than the Alte Pinakothek. This is also the case because contemporary art is in some ways more alive. There are performances that can be filmed, moving artworks, interviews with artists, etc. The Alte Pinakothek has it a little bit harder here.
In the conducted interviews the point of copyrights played a big role. What often gets forgotten on Instagram is, that copyright of art plays a big role. While the Alte Pinakothek has a lot of possibilities to play with artworks, change them or bring them in today's time, most of the contemporary artworks that are exhibited at the Haus der Kunst are listed at VG-Bildkunst and the copyrights are most of the time not at the institution. That means that these artworks can not just be changed, photoshopped or edited without getting permission from VG-Bildkunst for it. This is the main difference between these two institutions and the art from different ages.
Coming back to their Instagram approach, both of the art museums have their biographies and captions in English to reach an international audience. While Instagram gives them the chance to communicate primarily through photos and videos, they also use the captions for information about opening hours, events and upcoming exhibitions. With their specific hashtag for the respective institution, they motivate their followers to co-create content, involve them and be interactive. As written in the methodology chapter, reposting the followers content is one important part to remain in exchange with them.
While both of the institutions have their company specific hashtag, the Haus der Kunst should think of individual hashtags for each exhibition, the Alte Pinakothek already does it.
64 Users often use specific hashtags for certain exhibitions, like the name of the artist or the name of the exhibition. For findability and therefore visibility it would be much easier for them to use a consistent hashtag that is individual for every exhibition. That hashtag should then be noted in the biography on Instagram to encourage users to share content with it.
Having these hashtags, reposting gets also easier for the institutions. It can just be searched for the specific hashtag to then see all the content that was posted with it. The most suitable photos can be chosen and then reposted on the museums Instagram account. Through reposting one shows the follower who took the photo appreciation and motivates to share more. As seen at the profile of the Alte Pinakothek, reposts are very popular. The Haus der Kunst rarely does reposting even though they get tagged on more than twice as much pictures as the Alte Pinakothek. So content would be there in any case and would give a great opportunity for reposts. And even though the reposts of the Alte Pinakothek are so popular, they make up only a small percentage of the contributions. Both institutions should consider sharing more here.
Reposting is a way to make the followers be part of co-creation and proactively engage with them. The great potential for interaction is what makes Instagram stand out and sets it apart from other online platforms. This should therefore also be made use of. The Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek should not only be more interactive with reposting but also with replying to comments under their posts. This strengthens the relationship and gives the visitors the possibility to feel more connected with the institution. Inviting follower to conversations and discussions in their captions, like asking them questions or for their opinions on topics, will encourage the conversations. Instagram Stories is a great opportunity to be more interactive as well. It gives the possibility to do polls or quizzes with the users from which the institutions could profit from.
Another part that defines Instagram accounts of companies and institutions is the view behind the scenes given to the followers. It gives insights to the visitors, that they would not find at the museum itself because it is normally withheld from the visitors. The behind the scenes photography gives another new inside and approach to art here. The actual work behind the exhibitions is shown, the love for detail when images are accurately measured with spirit levels. It lets the user connect a little bit more to the art institution and explains how the work
65 at a museum is conducted. Most of the behind the scene posts of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek have been of preparing the exhibition. Because this is happening only every few weeks before a new exhibition is opened, the percentage of behind the scenes content is not that high at both of the accounts. As seen on other big Instagram accounts of companies like Nike for example, users are very interested in behind the scenes content. These posts do not need to be about the preparations of the exhibition in the case of museums, but can also be about the employees of the museum, the behind the scenes of social media, shootings, or restoration of old artworks (Alte Pinakothek) and process of creating art (Haus der Kunst).
Analysing the most liked pictures of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, for the Haus der Kunst these are snapshots. The photo with the most likes of the analysed time frame is the photo of the former museum director of the Haus der Kunst who passed away on the day of the post. The high number of likes on this portrait suggests that this is not primarily about the picture but about the context in which it stands. In the caption, the Haus der Kunst expresses its compassion and sorrow. This shows that Instagram communicates mainly through images, but the captions below also have a high added value for the follower. For the Alte Pinakothek, the most liked pictures are photos of their artworks, reposts, and some behind the scenes. Six out of ten reposts are snapshots which reflects an interest in this kind of pictures here. It is conspicuous that the photos of only the artwork itself get so many likes at the Instagram of the Alte Pinakothek and thus stands out from the most liked content of the Haus der Kunst. That shows that the interest in these old paintings is still very big and that people also like them in such a small format on Instagram. For the Haus der Kunst, the snapshots are highly liked by their followers. These have proven themselves especially at the current exhibition of El Anatsui, as his artworks are extremely large and appear even more impressive when taking snapshots with visitors.
Similar for both institutions is, that the first picture of an exhibition that is ready to visit gets the most likes. This leads one to assume that this is again about the information in the caption, which announces when the exhibition opens, etc., but probably also about the picture itself. Both are snapshots of a person in front of the artwork. The snapshot of the Alte Pinakothek may have been taken, but at first glance, it still meets the criteria for this type of photo. Especially through snapshots, and the people depicted in the pictures, life is brought to the presented art online. The paintings, sculptures and other static artworks become alive. It
66 becomes apparent, that pictures of art are often shown together with people. This can be the case for two reasons. First, art and humans are connected, art is made for humans. Second, as already shortly mentioned above, people on pictures next to artworks show the dimension of the artwork. Especially in cases where the artwork is huge this impresses and can be brought closer to the audience.
A lot of photos of followers where the Haus der Kunst is tagged are snapshots with people on it. As snapshots are so popular on the account of the Haus der Kunst, it would be easy to combine reposts with the aspect of snapshots. Currently, the Haus der Kunst is missing the opportunity to interact through reposts of snapshots.
5.4 The importance of interactivity
Through this study, it got clear, that Instagram is a really important platform to reach the younger audience but also one of the best to be interactive with the followers in general. The social media representatives of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek, that have been interviewed for this study, seemed to be aware of this, on the platform itself, it did not seem as this would be converted enough. There has to be a lot more invested in social media. While content is posted on a regular basis and the followers are kept up to date, the interactive part is still not totally implemented. More comments have to be replied on, more content from followers has to be reposted and the Instagram Stories have to have more interactive parts like for example surveys or quizzes. The part of co-creation has to be taken more seriously. This is probably clear for the social media representatives, but the ones who provide these jobs and decide how much time is spent on them, the ones higher in the hierarchy, most of the time do not see the importance here. The urgency and importance here for must arrive at the top so that actually something can happen and that the possibilities social media brings, can be fully utilized. In short, a mind-shift must take place with the museum directors. Marketing and Social media have to be taken seriously. Even if success and positive changes are not seen directly in this department, in the long run, it will bring prosperity. At the moment, only a small percentage of followers is liking and commenting on the photos of both accounts of the institutions. Although a certain range should exist by the given follower numbers one cannot recognize this in the activity of the likens and comment.
67 But also comparing the follower numbers to the actual relevance and importance that the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek have in today's cultural scene, they do not do them justice.
The awareness of the importance of social media might especially be a difficult topic for more traditional institutions. These institutions already exist for several years and focus, like the Alte Pinakothek, on centuries-old art. Institutions, companies, and businesses that have been build up in the past years, in the digital age, already had the internet as a part of their environment. For institutions like museums, that have existed before the digital age, the digitalisation might have been a much bigger transition. Social media is something that they had to adapt to something that worked fine before and never needed Instagram or other online platforms. But this digital change can not just be ignored. Times have changed and even traditional institutions need to go with this change if they want to survive.
All in all, Instagram is a very good way to bring art closer, especially to young people. Instagram creates a certain personal level through the very good possibility of interaction and thus a new approach to art and the institution that should not be withheld from anyone.
6. Conclusion
With Instagram, art museums become accessible to everyone. In no way, museums lose accessibility for other target groups, especially the older generation, but gain new visitors. Aforementioned, all income and education classes use Instagram, which makes it a platform with the possibility to reach a big audience (Clarke n. pag.). One cannot speak here of a loss but of seizing opportunities and using new possibilities to the advantage of museums. Over the centuries, museums have evolved from something private, accessible only to noble and rich people, to institutions open to everyone and dedicated to sharing art and knowledge with the masses. In order to maintain this task and duty, it is necessary taking advantage of the benefits of digitisation, being an enrichment for the institutions as well as for the visitors.
The will to find a place in cyberspace is present. Through the new online communication of the younger generation that came with the Internet, their attention is best reached on social media platforms like Instagram. This study showed, how museums and digitalisation can be
68 brought together through Instagram, the platform that uses images and their power as a communication medium. But this journey has just started. More investment is needed because Digital Natives want interaction. Investments in qualified stuff that speaks the language of this next generation and builds a bridge between them and art, no matter what century it is from, is mandatory to use the benefits of social media.
It is important to recognize that social media is not only Internet, not only virtual but is complemented by interaction in real life, like events or cooperations. In the end, it all depends on the big picture. The social media presence must be supplemented with offline happenings. Offline events that are promoted online on Instagram, like the cooperation of the Alte Pinakothek and the Blitz Club, attract a lot of younger people and let them do the first step to the museum and the exhibition. This was already seen at the Louvre with their sensational visitor totaling 10.8 million in 2018, half of them being under 30, that most likely came from the music video Beyoncé and Jay-Z shot there (Lorch 15). Social media and events are a way to take away the feeling of art being only something for the elitist.
Especially the most recent exhibition of the Alte Pinakothek, Florence, and its painters, and the current exhibition of the Haus der Kunst, El Anatsui, was very well received by the visitors, what can among other things be attributed to the social media presence that these two exhibitions had. The Alte Pinakothek had really high visitor numbers and the Haus der Kunst could already see the success after some weeks with all the content that was shared on Instagram from their visitors. Here one sees that the way is right. However, there is still room for improvement. The numbers online, like followers, likes and comments are still very small in comparison overall visitor numbers. This underlines again the importance that a mind-shift has to take place on all levels to be able to invest in this field.
In this thesis, some action recommendations for the Instagram accounts of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek were worked out. Some points, like the good technical quality of the posted content, the use of different features that are provided on Instagram, as well as the balance between followers and following, are already well implemented, others still need to be worked on. The Haus der Kunst, for example, should think about an individual hashtag for every exhibition, like the Alte Pinakothek already has. Both of the institutions should also post more snapshots and behind the scenes photography to maintain the interest of followers
69 and gain new followers. Also increasing the number of responses to comments under posts and reposting content are two important actions that should be taken to make the best use of the opportunity for interaction on Instagram and strengthen the bond to followers.
For further research, a multi-channel analysis could be done to find the best strategy for running all social media channels and see whether museums should serve all channels or limit themselves to Instagram. One would then have a broader view and the context and connection between the different social media channels and a broader target group that can be addressed here. Also, an observation of the Instagram accounts over a specific time frame could be interesting, to see if for example posting more snapshots, reposts or behind the scenes photography really attract more people and gains followers, so give an approach to action and see if that is effective.
The whole topic of digitisation and social media is a very big and fast-moving one. This study, therefore, focused on Instagram, because especially in connection with museums, a platform that has the image as a communication medium works very good as a starting point here. Nevertheless, other social media accounts of the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek are not to be ignored here. However, an additional analysis of these platforms would have gone beyond the scope of this work.
What has definitely become clear is that the type and age of art do not play a role in marketing on Instagram. The strategy regarding Instagram is the same for the Haus der Kunst and the Alte Pinakothek. A focus needs to lay on responsiveness and interaction here to create and hold a community.
This study showed that art museums do not lose their value through digitisation and with the right social media strategy they can excite Digital Natives.
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Appendix
Please use the following link to access the Google drive folder holding complete data sets and other visualisations: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1M51iSeiSn3Dc8nYy8KZFguUJYgrY_LtV
Haus der Kunst most liked:
Date Number of images Likes Category
12.04 4 809 snapshot
08.04 2 897 snapshot
23.03 1 906 snapshot
19.03 1 809 snapshot
15.03 1 1.725 portrait
09.03 1 1.035 snapshot
77
Alte Pinakothek most liked:
Date Number of images Likes Category
12.04 3 545 behind the scenes
04.04 4 804 repost (posters)
29.03 1 440 repost (person in exhibition room)
15.03 3 753 painting/poster/flyer
12.03 2 621 painting (zoomed+normal)
19.02 2 467 behind the scenes
15.02 1 516 repost (staircase)
06.02 6 642 repost (persons in front of paintings/statues and snapshots)
01.02 2 502 exhibition room + painting
29.01 3 448 exhibition room + painting
25.01 1 854 repost (staircase)
22.01 3 418 exhibition room + painting (zoomed)
20.01 1 435 section of a large painting
18.01 1 569 section of a large painting
17.01 5 473 poster (zoomed)
12.01 3 439 workshop
04.01 4 440 painting + painting zoomed
78 01.01 1 589 repost (person in front of painting/ snapshot)
24.12 4 559 painting + painting zoomed
21.12 1 693 museum building from outside
11.12 1 612 painting (zoomed)
07.12 1 619 repost (staircase)
27.11 1 447 painting
23.11 1 538 repost (staircase)
16.11 5 497 painting + painting zoomed
13.11 2 509 painting on wall with person + only painting (snapshot?)
09.11 1 591 repost (staircase)
26.10 1 460 magazine
17.10 1 1321 person in front of painting
15.10 1 567 behind the scenes
08.10 1 616 behind the scenes
Haus der Kunst: Reposting the followers content
Reposts in 2019 Reposts in 2018
27.03 25.11
24.03 20.11
24.01 16.11
06.01 15.10
27.09
79 09.09 → in total 10 reposts
→ tagged from 15.4.2018-17.4.2019 on 680 photos
Alte Pinakothek: Reposting the followers content
Reposts in Reposts in Reposts in Reposts in Reposts in 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
04.04 07.12 26.07 20.01 12.06
29.03 23.11 10.06
15.02 09.11 09.06
06.02 18.09 08.06
25.01 14.09 06.06
31.08 05.06
17.08 05.06
03.08 26.05
09.07 26.05
04.04 21.05
15.01
10.01
08.01 → in total 30 reposts
→ tagged from 15.4.2018-17.4.2019 on 300 photos
Haus der Kunst: Behind the scenes photography
Year Day Category
2019 04.03 preparing exhibition
2019 03.03 artist
80 2019 01.03 preparing exhibition
2019 22.02 preparing exhibition
2019 21.02 preparing exhibition
2019 14.02 preparing exhibition
2018 02.10 preparing exhibition
2018 10.09 preparing exhibition
2018 07.09 preparing exhibition
2018 28.08 preparing exhibition
2018 20.08 preparing exhibition
2018 27.06 artist
2018 22.06 preparing exhibition
2018 04.06 preparing exhibition
2018 07.05 performance preparations
2018 28.02 preparing exhibition
2017 19.11 preparing performance
2017 09.11 artist talk/ artist presentation
2017 21.08 preparing exhibition
2017 10.07 artist talk
2017 30.06 artist presentation
2017 29.06 picture from archive
2017 30.05 preparing exhibition
2017 15.05 employees of the institution
2017 25.04 preparing exhibition
2017 23.04 preparing exhibition
2017 23.02 preparing exhibition
2016 19.10 preparing exhibition
2016 10.10 preparing exhibition
81 2016 07.10 preparing exhibition
2016 05.10 preparing exhibition
2016 15.04 employees of the institution
2015 12.10 artists (before their performance)
2014 18.09 preparing exhibition
2014 15.03 behind the livestream → in total: 35
Alte Pinakothek: Behind the scenes photography
Year Day Category
2019 12.04 preparing exhibition
2019 02.04 preparing exhibition
2019 22.02 artist
2019 19.02 artist
2018 15.10 preparing exhibition
2018 08.10 preparing exhibition
2018 30.01 conservation of artwork
2018 17.01 preparing exhibition
2017 11.08 rehearsal
2017 26.07 shooting statue/art
2017 13.04 hanging up posters
2017 07.03 preparing exhibition
2016 24.03 preparing exhibition
2016 24.02 researchers at work (employees of the institution)
2015 05.12 depots of the museum
2015 05.12 archive (dias)
2015 05.12 employee offices
82 2015 18.05 preparing exhibition
2015 13.05 preparing exhibition
2015 08.05 preparing exhibition
2014 13.10 planning exhibition
2014 08.10 press conference
2014 04.09 package arriving
2014 04.08 employee (beekeeper from bees on the roof of the institution)
2014 30.07 press conference → in total: 25
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