Authenticity on Instagram: Conceptual Artists That Explore Identity Online

Master in New Media and Digital Culture

University of Amsterdam

Master Thesis

Date of completion: 4 September 2017

Lina Marija Kucinskaite 11313412

Supervisor: mw. Amanda Wasielewski

Second reader: dhr. prof. dr. Robin Boast Lina Marija Kucinskaite

ABSTRACT ...... 3

INTRODUCTION ...... 4

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 9

METHOD ...... 14

1. FORMS OF AUTHENTICITY IN ART AND THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT ...... 16

1.1. CONCEPTUAL ART AND THE PLATFORM OF ITS RECEPTION ...... 16

1.1.1. THE ROLE OF THE SPECTATOR IN THE CREATIVE ACT ...... 19

1.1.2. DOCUMENTING DIGITAL AND MEDIA ART ...... 22

1.2. AUTHENTICITY AS IDENTITY ...... 26

1.2.1. AUTHENTICITY IN ART ...... 26

1.2.2. PHOTOGRAPHY AS A VISUAL FORM OF COMMUNICATION ...... 30

1.2.3. AUTHENTICITY IN NEW MEDIA ...... 33

1.3. INSTAGRAM AS THE REPRESENTATOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA CULTURE ...... 38

1.3.1. SOCIAL LIFE ON INSTAGRAM: THE MAIN ASPECTS ...... 38

1.3.2. AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTAGRAM INTERFACE ...... 40

2. AUTHENTICITY OF CONCEPTUAL ART IN SOCIAL MEDIA: CASE STUDIES ...... 47

AMALIA ULMAN: CHALLENGING CLASS, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ...... 49

ANDY KASSIER: CRITICISM OF THE NARCISSIST MALE ON INSTAGRAM ...... 56

AUDREY WOLLEN: SADNESS AS A FORM OF RESISTANCE ONLINE ...... 66

CONCLUSION ...... 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 87

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 95 APPENDIX ...... 114

Lina Marija Kucinskaite

ABSTRACT

In the contemporary art world, a new form of performance closely resembles the actions of a typical Instagram user. Conceptual artists use this social media platform to critique the digital society and perform online internet art series. This study examined three artists using their Instagram accounts for performance purposes. By the means of Instagram interface features, these artists manipulate the audience by presenting false self-representations or montages. This creative act addresses questions of authenticity, as it explores what that concept means in the context of new and interactive media technologies. However, the roots of the debate over authentic content date back to the beginning of the twentieth century. To investigate the construction of identity while present online, this paper reviews and examines authenticity in art history, photography, and the new media. This thesis discusses what authenticity means in digital spaces and how users can easily manipulate it via the Instagram interface.

Lina Marija Kucinskaite

INTRODUCTION

The online interactions within social media platforms have been changing in the last decade and shifted towards new forms of visual communication. The photo sharing social network Instagram puts a stronger emphasis on the image and helps to create a visual self-representation for users online by providing them features to document their activities. To a certain extent, social media platforms introduced a norm of sharing personal information online. Additionally, social media platforms have transformed how people function and interact by influencing each other's actions via visual content (Miller et al. 91; van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity 4; Gatson 224). This shift constitutes a new and constantly growing importance of the publicly available self-representation on personal or professional levels. As the new media author Jose van Dijck argues, media plays an important role forming and changing our personal and general 'cultural memory' (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 15–21). The notion of 'cultural memory' could be explained as a collection of private, history-based memories as well as a wider cultural domain of existing societal norms and structures. For this reason, people's posts' habits on Instagram led researchers to study human behaviour online.

In this context, this study aims to investigate the questions concerning authenticity in user self-representation on Instagram. The research area of this study requires an exclusively wide glance over the problem of online self-representation. A specific method of research should therefore be undertaken. In the first part of this study the key theoretical concepts of conceptual art and authenticity need to be described, taking on board previous theoretical deliberations of different twentieth century scholars and thinkers. The specifics of the topic and object in this study also led to its structure. The first part focuses on preceding theoretical insights in order to build a general sight of the conceptual art topics in relation of various authenticity

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concepts and online communication on Instagram. Therefore, this first part is divided in three main subheadings. The first subheading: ‘Conceptual art and the platform of its reception’ analyses the role of the spectator as well as the technological and social changes of documenting digital and media art. Finding the specifics of these concepts in cultural and social contexts is of prior importance to determine their relation with online communication within social media platforms. The second subheading is considering an overview of the literature concerning authenticity in arts what leads to the part dealing with photography as a visual form of communication and the inclusion of authenticity in new media. As this study will focus particularly on Instagram, it is beneficial to analyse the platform's online culture and its' features in the third and last subheading of the first part. Thus, an analysis of the interface might provide an insight to user behaviour helping to understand how Instagram guides the self-representation process. As the purpose of this study is to investigate and discuss authentic self-representation in contemporary digital culture, the second part of this paper focuses on conceptual artists performing on Instagram. To this extent, interviewing one of the conceptual artist was the most important research task adding a qualitative approach to this study. Finally, the investigation of their artistic approaches, their social communication and comparative analysis of visual content online closes the second part of the study.

While looking at the main concepts and artistic approaches, it is relevant to this study to define the differences between activities online and offline. The online or virtual environment consists of non-physical actions and objects that come into digital existence via software (van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity 4). This form of communication is quite simple, and as it is extremely visual, it functions as both a supplement and an alternative to face-to-face conversations. For instance, the selfie, is a picture that is presented online of someone's face, illustrates how a user can

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prove his/her presence somewhere or during a particular a moment in one image. Given this example it becomes faster to consume and get information online in this form of visual online language. The popularity of selfies proves the significance of visual communication in terms of sharing online aspects and emphasizes its role 'to maintain social relationships' (Miller et al. 183). These images not only connect people but also help to shape the mindsets, forms of behaviour, and actions of social groups. According to Bernard E. Harcourt this could be explained as 'the impulse to quantify ourselves, to monitor all our bodily vitals and variations and changes' (47). Given this idea, consuming this type of visual content presented by another user creates a strong link of associations between that person in real life and his online identity. This helps to portray an online self-representation by visualising someone's opinion, interest or connection to real life moments as well as influences other users to portray themselves in a similar way.

For example, face-to-face human interaction is not mediated by computers, smartphones, and other forms of technology such as in online conversations. These technological shifts in communication raise many questions and concerns about online society, the degree to which online materials reflect actual facts, and how digital culture influences human behaviour in the real world. Jose van Dijck points out that 'the widespread presence of platforms drives people to move many of their social, cultural, and professional activities to these online environments' (The Culture of Connectivity 4). This tendency to move personal hobbies, interests and social activities to internet platforms creates attachment to the online environment. The offline or real environment comprises those actions physically performed by humans, rather than via technology, and tangible objects that exist in that setting. The online environment is increasingly influencing offline human behaviour, as a virtual presence becomes a form of self-identification and representation. Anthropologist Daniel Miller suggests that we could also consider social media platforms as 'friends' because the communication there is strongly connected to the 6

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people we know in the offline environment and we receive information about them via these platforms (208). Given this idea, users develop a dependence of platforms like Instagram as they want to keep up with people in their offline environment constantly seeking for new content and communication.

In addition to the dependency of the platform, authenticity as identity plays a central role in the context of online self-representation. As Koosel suggests 'creating authenticity in an online environment is merely a mediate, virtual form of identity formation and communication' (61). Given this idea, an authentic online presence can be defined as a genuine and honest documentation of a person’s offline life; in other words, it means 'being oneself' and capturing real life moments. According to Sarah Gatson social media platforms encourage users to share 'authentic aspects' such as their offline name, gender, age, location and attach a picture (225). This authentic online content resembles actual facts and modes of human existence. For instance, when users share imagery that is typically considered private (e.g., photographs of friends, family, material possessions, or the nude body), they are portrayed as transparent. Sharing such materials seemingly creates an authentic online self-representation and connection to the offline environment; however, the content could be suggestive and misleading. Alice Marwick suggests that there are 'markers' of authenticity such as speech (i.e. text), clothes or body language that can be manipulated or changed online; however, other markers as gender, age or race are not easily faked (Selling Your Self 12). By creating associations with certain narratives and categories that exist in real life, content can seem believable, even if it is fiction. Miller and other authors of How The World Changed Social Media present an idea that 'people seek to show the best or idealised versions of themselves to their peers, at least on the most public platforms' (156). This is especially true given the idea of Instagram and its' interactivity as the feedback from other users play a key role. Therefore, a user then tends to 'impress' others by the content he or she

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posts that may sometimes lead to over-exaggeration or even fiction. However, online authenticity has become a complex notion, because of social media stereotypes, cultural memory, and interface features that allow users to manipulate others’ perceptions via digital photography. The content on Instagram, however, can be given a new meaning in terms of time or geographical location, and editing. These aspects can introduce further changes to a visual image (Manovich and Hochman). In other words, self-representation online is dependent on the posted content and could be manipulated.

Furthermore, according to a visual arts scholar Carrie Lambert-Beatty, the notion of visual language can be described as parafiction, a concept that has recently gained traction in contemporary art as well (54). Given this, the generated online user data is usually publicly available and for this reason has attracted the attention not only of scholars but conceptual artists as well, as they seek to investigate the phenomenon of self-representation in online spaces by creating an internet performance act. This online self-representation intersects with the real world, as the personas and stories portrayed on social media are associated with narratives that exist in reality. Most importantly, social media content raises questions about the gap between one’s online and offline identities. This shift in online self- representation is thus changing how media art is created and presented to the public. As digital photography and social media platforms are the common means of constructing an online self-representation, certain conceptual artists (Amalia Ulman, Andy Kassier, Audrey Wollen and others) have begun to investigate questions of identity within such platforms.

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Theoretical framework

This study discusses what authenticity means in digital spaces and how media artists explore this question on Instagram platform. Their creative acts address topics of conceptual art, authenticity and self-representation on social media. Therefore, it is beneficial to discuss and engage with the literature written on these three topics.

Art critic and writer Lucy Lippard was the one of the first to recognise the notion of dematerialisation in conceptual art. New artistic practices that arose in the 1960s, such as photorealism, performance art, and conceptual art, have transformed how artwork is documented and presented. This concept is essential when discussing new media art, as it creates a new way of experiencing the creative act (Lippard and Chandler 1). On a related note, influential conceptual artist and writer Marcel Duchamp has defined the spectator's role in the creative act as the component that brings art and the external world together. Duchamp was one of the first to recognise that a work of art is an idea and not simply a physical object. According to him, a piece of art can be valued in terms of how it is experienced by spectators. In sum, Duchamp has claimed the spectator’s verdict has a significant influence on the true value of a piece of art, a creative act, or a performance (Duchamp). To this end, it is relevant to discuss those conceptual artists who create media art and online performances, as without the online community, such art would have less value. When it comes to the internet and social media culture, viewers also influence art, as they are not only spectators but also objects of investigation. This idea leads to a deeper understanding of what media artists are trying to achieve with their work, how it gains attention online, and how conceptual art functions in relation to digital environment.

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The concept of authenticity is key for this study as a concept rooted in the arts discourse and the tight link with online self-representation. The philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin is an influential author in the field of aesthetics and authenticity. His essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is highly regarded in cultural and media theory studies. Benjamin's argument is that new means of technology in the twentieth century, such as litography, graphic art, and photography, have had an impact on how art is created and distributed. According to Benjamin, technological reproduction means the elimination of authenticity, as the ‘here and now’ is missing from artwork (21). This relates to the topic of this study as self-representation online is driven by the idea of being authentic, which is questionable due to digital technology evolution.

Furthermore, philosopher Denis Dutton has argued that there are several ways of examining authenticity. He has highlighted terms such as nominal authenticity, expressive authenticity, and authenticity of experience (Dutton 258-275). Nominal authenticity mostly refers to the credits of a piece of art: the name of the artist, the year it was produced, and the place of creation. Expressive authenticity defines the artist's intentions and the genuine feeling transmitted by the artwork. And finally, authenticity of experience may be impossible to capture, as it pertains to seeing a piece of art in its most natural form and setting. In these terms, viewing a piece of artwork in a museum is not considered authentic. While considering the discussion of that a photograph cannot replace an original piece of art, being simply a copy of it, it raises questions of how authenticity is transmitted via online visual content.

Another art critic, John Berger, similarly to Benjamin, discusses how the medium of photography has influenced artwork. As part of the BBC television series Ways of Seeing, which was later adapted into a book, he discussed how photography has influenced how art is perceived. According to Berger there is no separation between

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what we see and what we know and that our knowledge influences how we understand content (7). This is especially true on social media platforms as the existing real world narratives influence how we understand the content we see online. Berger has argued that with the invention of photography, art became transmittable. However, it is true that meaning cannot be imparted by a photograph (24). Berger's treatment of this idea is similar to Benjamin’s statement that photography cannot transmit the ‘here and now’ in the same way as artwork (21). Moreover, Tom Gunning have presented ideas about reproducing or copying content that are also relevant to Instagram images. He claims that although photographs could be considered a 'direct representation of reality', they can also be edited with Photoshop and other programs (Gunning 40). Such pictures are, in fact, filtered or highly influenced by existing editing programs meaning that they do not represent actual reality. According to both Berger and Benjamin, the value of a piece of art derives from its situatedness in time and space, as authenticity lies in experiencing art in its natural form. However, no other medium offers such a testament to the past as does photography and that it gradually became one of the main tools for creating a visual self-representation online. Starting from Berger's argument that photography has changed the ways we understand content, it is concluded that this technological representation is mediated via associations.

According to Jean Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation the information not necessarily 'produces meaning' (80). The author claims the communication that is produced by media messages becomes more and more simulated and familiar. This may be due to the staged 'desire of the audience' for social communication (Baudrillard 80). In addition, the visual art scholar Carrie Lambert-Beatty has discussed that facts presented as fiction could be taken for granted via associations if they fit existing narratives. In her work Make-Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility, she has defined the notion of parafiction as presenting fiction as facts (Lambert-

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Beatty 54). This process is quite common on social media platforms like Instagram, as some users tend to stage content by manipulating pictures to exaggerate facts, with the goal of creating a more attractive representation of their lifestyle which opposes the idea of being authentic. Given this, an image is not an exact copy of reality; rather, it produces certain connections and associations in users’ minds van Dijck, Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 12). This may lead to a false representation on the part of a digital image, with the creator’s editing choices leading to inaccurate perceptions. According to Lambert-Beatty, this tendency of parafiction has recently become a trend in contemporary art, and even though it is deceptive, this conceptual content presented by artists is experienced as real (54). On Instagram in particular, it is easy for conceptual artists to manipulate these fictitious stories, as they create a persona aligned with a certain social media role (e.g., model or businessman). Doing so causes other users to engage with the content as they are familiar with these roles in real life. These artists have thus demonstrated that users trust the content they see on social media as factual, despite it being staged or deceptive. Lambert-Beatty has also argued that every modern history period, and especially the digital network age, is considered less honest (57). This shift makes it more difficult to remain authentic, as spectators are more sceptical, and interpretations of information are more detailed, with users examining everything from the font to the webpage URL.

The academic Lev Manovich has studied Instagram culture in detail. With the help of digital tools and Instagram interface features, he has collected and made sense of Instagram user data. His projects Selfiecity and Zooming into an Instagram city: Reading the local through social media illustrate how the Instagram interface sheds light on both users’ online habits and cultural trends within contemporary digital society, providing a pretext for conceptual artists to investigate this online culture (Manovich and Hochman). What concerns the authenticity concept in online self-

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representation, Sarah Gatson claims that when creating a user account, one is asked to share authentic details such as 'offline name, gender, age' what then creates a connection with user's offline identity (225). However, Stacey May Koosel discusses the fact that in the online environment the identity is formed by means of 'text, photo, video, audio and so forth' whereas in real life a person is understood by more characteristics such as 'their movements, mannerisms and expression' (58). Given this idea, real life identity consists of more complex notions such as that could not be transferred via the Instagram interface. Due to this, the 'digital self', according to Harcourt, is constructed 'through our presentation of self and telling stories' (128). The user has control of the digital self so it depends only on them how they want to tell their story. Jose van Dijck claims the digital evolution has changed photography and made it more of a 'technological transformation' (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 118). For instance, towards the twenty-first century personal photography has shifted and became more of an identity formation tool as it became more transformative and manipulative. What gives the power to control how people picture and represent themselves in the digital environment. Therefore, the questions of authentic self-representation online are being investigated by conceptual artists Ulman, Kassier and Wollen on Instagram.

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Method

The main method employed in this work was to undertake a comparative analysis of three Instagram accounts which were selected to illustrate the concept of authentic online self-representation. Direct interview and visual content analysis appeared to be the best sources of material for this discussion and reasonable empirical background for the study. The accounts of the conceptual artists; Amalia Ulman, Andy Kassier, and Audrey Wollen are investigating Instagram’s user culture and topics of self-representation through their online presence. The links that connects these artists are their focus on gender roles and online performances. However, what separates the artists is their approach towards authenticity online.

The aforementioned artists use their accounts to post pictures staged in a way that they believe reflects the existing mainstream characters and culture surrounding the Instagram platform. Ulman was one of the first successful Instagram artists due to the series ‘Excellences & Perfections’. To this end, it is beneficial to discuss her work in this study as it is intended to give a clear overview of the process of building an online identity. In addition to that, she also uses Instagram for self-performance as well as offering criticisms of contemporary culture. Moreover, a direct interview with Kassier is implemented in this study to learn about his performance as a rich businessman. The interview with artist provides some clarity on the topic of authentic online self-representation from Kassier's point of view. Kassier suggests that even though Instagram emphasises authenticity, that notion does not exist anymore. Furthermore, this paper includes a visual content analysis that has been conducted of Wollen's work on Instagram, her critical take on gender and political issues represents a different approach to media art. To express her political views the artist shares images of her body in relation to art historical paintings. Ulman and Kassier create a fictitious authentic self-representation, while Wollen's visual diary

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on Instagram is clearly a documentation of her daily life, thoughts and activities. All of the selected artists address gender-related questions by performing a certain role online.

Overall, digital photography and new media technologies have changed how artwork is produced and presented. Performing and presenting art on Instagram, an online photography-based platform, is thus unique in that the artists directly involve users in the creative act. The spectators become, for this reason, an important component of media art creating a dialogue about authenticity in self- representation online. Taken on board the online medium as well as the intervention of the multiple actors, it is difficult to define whether content is authentic, as it can easily be manipulated and reproduced via digital tools. Nevertheless, the idea of being authentic is implemented in the logic of social media users, as the essence is mostly about making connections and building online identity. However, considering that Instagram is not an element of real life and that content can easily be manipulated, the notion of authentic online self-representation becomes difficult to defend.

This study proposes a new approach of investigating the self-representation on Instagram because it is discussing both artists and scholars’ approaches concerning authenticity and online identity. The idea of how modern artwork changes direction and starts to move from the mass-media platforms to the museum as well as the artists who move from the studio to online spaces. This helps to understand how technology and the language of online culture influence contemporary society and arts.

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1. FORMS OF AUTHENTICITY IN ART AND THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

1.1. CONCEPTUAL ART AND THE PLATFORM OF ITS RECEPTION

As this study focuses on authenticity and self-representation online through the lens of media artists, it is important to contextualize conceptual art within new media technologies. According to Lippard, the term conceptual art refers to an artwork in 'which the idea is paramount and the material form is secondary' (vii). In some instances, the work may even be dematerialised (Lippard ix). For instance, a piece of art might not even have a tangible form, and instead depends on the artist’s thoughts or on the statement he or she wants to make. As regards the questions of what conceptual art is, what its goals are, and what is the philosophy behind it, every artist creates their own understanding of these elements. In accordance to Lippard what matters the most is the unique idea of the artist (7). Therefore, ‘concept art is not so much an art movement or vein as it is a position or worldview, a focus on activity’ (Friedman in Lippard 10); from this perspective, concept art emphasises the artist’s personal interests and the process of exploring those ideas via art.

Consequently, certain political events have encouraged conceptual artists to express their ideas in creative and unconventional ways. The era of conceptual art coincided with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the women's liberation movement. In this context, conceptual art was thus an element of the mid-1960s counterculture. The artistic movement was accelerated by the power of imagination, as conceptual artists challenged existing cultural norms, allowing freedom of expression to thrive. This kind of art appeared to the spectator as it did not require special skills or talent. However, creating something ‘mentally interesting to the spectator’ was essential (Lewitt). On the basis of that idea, different artistic 16

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movements started to emerge, with new art forms focusing on everyday urban life. Examples include Ed Ruscha's deadpan photography books and Reinhardt's writings: ‘I am interested in what is interesting’ (Ruscha in Stringfellow). Such works illustrate how artists began to focus on their personal opinions and to present their own ideas in a manner that might initially seem minimalistic or out of norms but eventually prove to be ‘visually pleasing’ (Lewitt). These artists followed that path rather than adhering to certain previously preconceived artistic norms. For this reason, art shifted from a local phenomenon to a global one, as artists sought to answer larger questions with their work. Conceptual art emerged from a vernacular minimalist movement, and as Ad Reinhardt put it in his works, less is more. However, the conceptual artist tends to say more with less:

Ideas alone can be works of art; they are a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical... The words of one artist to another may induce an idea chain, if they share the same concept. (Lewitt in Lippard 13)

In this context, artists tend to express more by exploiting less in order to grasp the attention of spectators. Forms, topics, and ideas underwent critical changes, and techniques for producing works of art did the same. For artists seeking to restructure the art process and perceptions of art, information and systems played a key role, replacing traditional compositions, colours and technique. A fascination with numbers, pseudo-scientific data, and information led to completely different— and sometimes absurd or simple—subjects (Shanken 436). However, as Lewitt has suggested, these new forms and ideas gave rise to various alternative art forms and inspired other artists.

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Furthermore, technology played a vital role in the emergence of new forms of representation and the dematerialisation of the art object. As discussed earlier, in the late twentieth century, a multitude of cultural transformations took place, and these were also reflected in the arts via technology. The artist Les Levine investigated the interaction and feedback between spectators and the environment in the late 1960s, using early computer technologies to achieve that goal. Levine presented his project ‘Systems Burn-Off X Residual Software’ (1969) in the Software exhibition. Levine's work consisted of thousand copies of 31 images that he took of a highly publicised Earth Works event, with the pictures randomly strewn about on the floor covered with jello. This artistic statement presented the relationship between software and art. It also acknowledged the fact that mass-media was changing the audience experience into a simulated representation, as opposed to simply providing information about facts and objects (Shanken 434). Levine's work sparked a debate on whether the media and technology were destroying how art is experienced, as it became more focused on the software and technology that were used, rather than the piece of art itself.

These 'conceptual transformations' influenced computer based media art and the use of digital networks in contemporary art (Lillemose 128). Given today's dematerialisation of the art object and wide use of social networking websites, this invited artists to participate in the online discourse and present their ideas to a wide audience of social media users. One of the topics of today's media artists on social media questions authenticity of online identity and self-representation techniques. According to Koosel:

The identity narrative, when mediated through social networks, often takes the shape of a ‘status update’ or a ‘post’ which when collected together over time, can represent many fragmented, short stories about the self. (60) 18

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These digital images create an overall visual representation of the modern society while on the same time a single personal documentation of one individual's life. Lillemose claims that online interactions have a major impact on our lives and informs an individual on a private and a 'wider social' basis (130). Given this idea, media artists choose to be active online and participate in this network while communicating their ideas, developing concepts of interest and constructing public opinions. By doing so, it becomes easier to reach a wide audience and present their ideas on social media platforms as well as to receive quick feedback from users.

1.1.1. The role of the spectator in the creative act

There are two parties involved in artistic creation: the artist and the spectator. German philosopher Wolfgang Iser claims about the relationship between an author and the recipient: 'The represented world is not a world, but the reader imagines as if it were one, clearly the reader's reaction must be guided by that representation' (16). Applying this to the field of art, a spectator expects as well to be guided by the artist as they are the one telling the story.

Considering that millions of artists create art, while only a few are widely discussed, the question arises if the spectator determines the value of a piece of art. Duchamp, was an avant-garde artist who had a considerable impact on art history and was one of the first to recognise concept-driven artwork (Dadart). Duchamp declared that the spectator is a key component of creative art, as ‘his declarations give a social value to the piece’ (Duchamp). More specifically, the conceptual artist must intrigue and appeal to spectators, as they are the ones who consume the artwork.

In the creative act, the artist goes from intention to realisation through a chain of totally subjective reactions. His struggle toward the realisation is a series of efforts, pains, satisfaction, refusals, decisions, 19

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which also cannot and must not be fully self-conscious, at least on the aesthetic plane. (Duchamp)

Duchamp defined the art coefficient as the link between an artist’s conscious and unconscious goals (Duchamp). As a result of this idea, the spectator is the one who has to decide whether a work of art is engaging and those goals of an artist are dependent on the reactions of the recipient. The spectator’s role becomes then to determine the potential aesthetic value of an artwork by experiencing it. Once a piece of art is completed, the artist ‘has no control over the way viewer will perceive the work’ (Lewitt). It is thus of personal matter, depending on subjective and individual characteristics, to determine how a piece of art is understood. Additionally, due to the reshaping of the art object, new forms of presenting and experiencing art also emerged. For instance, Lambert-Beatty discusses an example of an art historian Michael Blum who recreated the house of a Turkish-Jewish historical figure Safiye Behar in 2005. The installation contained a documentation of Behar's life. By furnishing the apartment with her letters, photographs, books ‘he relayed Behar's life story with both bilingual didactics and a certain flair of stagecraft’ (Lambert-Beatty 52). This means that the art piece becomes is a fiction. It is directly inspired by a true story and constructed according to the actual historical events. This makes the spectator's experience of the art more realistic, as the artwork encourages them to relate from a personal perspective.

As the creative act becomes dematerialised, as aforementioned, and can be presented in various ways (e.g., live performance, digital formats, and installations), in order to engage with the spectator, the artwork needs to transmit an authentic and genuine feeling. In terms of digital and media art spectator's contribution is essential as the viewer is the element connecting a work of art and the external world. This means that the perceiver of the artwork adds ‘contribution to the

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creative act’ (Duchamp). Taken this on board, the forms of representation guide the spectator to make a decision about the art he or she is experiencing. For instance, Fluxus artistic movement criticised the notions of 'originality and authenticity' and contributed to the dematerialisation of art through 'mass-producing works of art in the style of boxes and games and performance' (Meecham and Sheldon 276). According to Meecham and Sheldon this created a completely different and authentic experience for the spectator as the Fluxus 'unsettled the auratic art object and bypassed the museum' (228). With regards to current media art, the outcome is similar for the spectator when the art being presented ‘outside’ the museum (for example: digital online spaces) creating a less ‘institutional’ experience.

However, when digital technology is part of the creative act, the role of the spectator changes. According to the artist Les Levine, the sense of intimacy between a piece of art and the spectator shifted towards a less-controlled encounter:

The experience of seeing something first hand is no longer of value in a software controlled society, as anything seen through the media carries just as much energy as first-hand experience. In the same way, most of the art that is produced today ends up as information about art. (Levine in Shanken 434)

With regards to Levine's idea, a performance, for instance, is more authentically experienced at the time of the action rather than afterwards. To emphasize the impact of the new media technology on our everyday lives Levine's argument illustrates that the production and representation of art within the same medium might create a new form of spectator’s experience (e.g. artists using Instagram to critique Instagram culture). In this way, the spectator is reached by everyday digital means (e.g. smartphones) and provided with reproduced information about the art.

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Even though this might create a seemingly non-authentic copy of the original piece of art that cannot be experienced in the same way, the spectator, on the other hand, does not value 'first-hand' experience as much as before the digital era.

1.1.2. Documenting digital and media art

With the dematerialisation of the art object and moving 'outside' the museum, digital technologies have become an important tool for representation, making it an essential tool to the documentation of the creative act. Moreover, authenticity of experience is also a critical aspect of the creative act, as it helps to determine how content is received by the audience, ‘viewers thinking about what they see rather than simply weighing the formal or emotive impact’ (Lippard and Chandler 3). As Dutton argues, an authentic experience of the art piece may be impossible to achieve (266). However, considering that Fluxus movement, for instance, recalibrates the audience’s perception and performance, a work of art could only be experienced by participating. As a spectator, this creates new modern ways of authentic exploration of art (Meecham and Sheldon 228). In consequence, conceptual artwork challenges spectators, not only to acknowledge the aesthetics of what is presented to them, but also embeds them within a particular discourse. Means of experiencing artwork have changed, and with conceptual art in particular, the spectator plays a more substantial role in the creative act.

Conceptual art shatters the norms that existed in the art world, and also breaks with traditional representational techniques such as an oil painting, painted on a canvas and hung in the museum. The technical features have also generated a faster response from the audience. For instance, even when an art piece is in a gallery, people often share their experience online by posting pictures, adding a location and a caption below. Approaches to documenting and preserving conceptual art forms have evolved, because of the technical features' and because of formats’ ‘multi-part 22

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nature, variability, and rapid obsolescence’ (Rinehart 181). Moreover, many galleries and artists create their own online spaces where they share information about their exhibits, allowing other users to comment or 'like' the content. Even if the notion of reproducing art into digital information about art was Levin’s main argument, in many cases, new means of artistic representation were created with the intention to challenge the existing norms of traditional art. For instance, you can see the art as a video or online image series. However, these digital techniques can be considered less authentic, as the spectator experience might be controlled by a secondary source. This means that the spectator experiences art via the screen, that is in between the live act and the viewing audience.

For many artists working at the intersection of conceptual art and art- and-technology, the particular visual manifestation of the artwork as an object was secondary to the expression of an idea that becomes reality by stimulating it. (Shanken 434)

Given this, the idea and meaning of the artwork gains more importance than how it is presented to the public. Nevertheless, when conceptual artists use digital media for documenting their original art the result is more of a personal communication with the spectator. Due to the fact that media art is much more performative and ‘behaviour-centric’, it has a variety of forms that can be performed multiple times using different techniques for experiencing art (e.g., music) (Rinehart 181). Even when performed via different ‘instruments’, a performance usually has the same result. The music of Bach, for instance, could be performed by a new piano or an old one, and it could even be played on a CD player. A similar concept applies to the documentation of digital art: A conceptual artist’s performance could be recorded or presented live on a social network or a website.

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The previously mentioned 1960s Software exhibition contained another piece by Haacke called ‘News’ (1969). That work used several teletype machines to document and present the art. It was designed to calculate, document, and print statistical data on the exhibition’s visitors, and the teletype machines printed that information on paper rolls in real-time. The presentation, however, relied on a different format. A projector was used to display the constantly changing data on a large screen, allowing a large number of people to view it (Haacke in Shanken 435). In this particular example, spectators became a part of the artwork. In addition, a digital media art piece might be produced by one software program on a particular type of computer and then presented on different computer via different programs. Moreover, the art might be interpreted in divergent manners by spectators, depending on the representational forms and their configurations. This variability should not be considered as an element that reduces the value of a piece of art, but as an inherent property of the medium and the works belonging to it. As Rinehart has stated, ‘digital and related media art will almost certainly use different hardware for presentation a hundred years from now, but can still be considered authentic’ (182). According to Rinehart, digital media can be authentic, and higher- level techniques of documenting and presenting art will most likely evolve in the future.

This history of media art documentation is linked to artists’ practice of using mobile photography and social media in their performances nowadays. Ulman, Kassier, and Wollen have all addressed questions concerning contemporary society in general, and digital culture stereotypes in particular, and their ideas connect art and spectators on different levels. Firstly, Instagram’s medium of presentation is the spectator’s private space, which is not a typical artistic venue. Secondly, the spectator becomes the object of investigation and determines the outcome of the performance. Lastly, without the engagement of the spectator, such a project could

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not be as fruitful, considering the user is the one who chooses to follow the account of the artist and engage in the conversation posed. This creates a unique and authentic relationship between the artist and the spectator, one that is mediated via digital media.

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1.2. AUTHENTICITY AS IDENTITY

1.2.1. Authenticity in art

As a first step, authenticity being a broad and variable term, it is beneficial to this study to discuss how it navigates in the arts discourse. Authenticity within arts context is usually associated as an original artwork versus a copy of it. 'One of the most famous episodes of misidentification and fraudulence in the last century involves the van Meegeren Vermeer forgeries', according to Dutton (261). After his paintings were not well-received by experts in the twentieth century, van Meegeren decided to forge paintings by famous Dutch artists. As reported by Dutton, he replicated those paintings so accurately that critics regarded them as genuine and exquisite. However, after a while, van Meegeren was confronted, and it became clear that the paintings supposedly worth millions of dollars were, in fact, fakes. In line with Dutton’s argument, this historical event 'calls into question both the validity of official expertise and the existence of ascertainable aesthetic values' (261). Most definitions of authenticity refer to representations that are real, genuine, and unedited. Gimblett speaks about authenticity as 'sincere, innocent, original, genuine' while Bendix explains that authentic is 'not mechanically reproduced' (Gimblett and Bendix in Fine 155). Moreover, and according to Fine, ‘authenticity refers to the recognition of difference' (155). The example of van Meegeren proves that even masterpieces of famous artists can be fabricated, leaving even the experts unable to spot the difference between identical authentic and inauthentic paintings. In Berger's and Benjamin's opinions, reproductions create a sense of uniformity therefore the unique aspect of artwork vanishes in the process of copying.

Given the idea that even the masterpieces can be copied, a reproduction of an original cannot have the same identity; while it may look the same, the unique elements of its' history are not present. Therefore, the authenticity and identity of

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an artwork are often discussed in the arts discourse. According to Lowenthal the identity even has a stronger impact on the artwork: 'object identity triumphs over material authenticity' (82). For instance, as Newman and Bloom argue, the original painting by Picasso means that the artist touched the canvas, however the forgery might look completely the same but does not have this quality and therefore does not contain this 'special essence' (559). Identity of the artwork goes further than the just the originality aspect of it, so the Picasso example demonstrates that even if the paintings look completely the same the value might be different due to who created and was in possession of the artwork. Furthermore, Bendix believes that the moral authority of the artist and the fact that objects are handmade, thus unique, greatly contributes to the authentic value of the artwork (15). In this context, the paintings of Picasso for example, are greatly valued because his works have been admired for a long-time period and the artist is well established in the history of arts. This relates to Roth B. Phillips idea that authenticity depends on the qualities associated with the object and the 'collective memory' of the artwork (19). This means that, all the external information about the art piece such as the artist, the owner, the time and place contribute to the overall collective memory of the artwork. This concept is essential to the understanding of the authenticity as identity which cannot be duplicated.

Given this, the identity of an art object is what fulfills its' authentic value. The original artwork has an effect associated with its distinct location in time and space. For instance, as Sartwell argues the Mona Lisa is authentic because it was painted with particular paints on a particular panel at the time when Leonardo Da Vinci was alive; on the other hand, Mona Lisa loses some part of its' authentic value when it has been cut down and placed in a museum (364). Therefore, the act of replacing means the loss of the authenticity elements, together with all the sentiment and collective memories that are connected to the piece. Additionally, this notion

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extracts the essence of the artwork and creates a sense of uniformity eliminating the identity, what means authenticity as well. An original piece of art’s location—the here and now—underlies its authentic value (Benjamin 21). In addition, contemporary technology and innovation have made it increasingly simple to access all forms of art. All that is needed is to press a button on one’s television, computer, phone, or other digital device, and this ease of access reflects. As Lillemose points out the computer became not only a tool for contemporary artists but an artistic medium in itself (117). Given this, it is common for media artists and conceptual artists to use digital photography and social media platforms, such as Instagram, to document their performances seek to create a unique representation of the creative act while exploring the idea of authentic online user experiences. To be more specific, to get closer to a piece of art, spectators want to witness a live performance, see a piece in its natural state, or view it prior to reproduction.

In a sense, in today’s world, the authentic value of an art piece consists of one’s authentic experience of that work. In the case of an art performance, the audience becomes a part of the creative act, as without spectators, the work would lose its meaning and value. As Dutton has noted, one of the main elements of authenticity concerns the context in which a creative object exists and the audience’s role in that setting (269). This notion stresses the fact that the role of the spectator in a creative act is sometimes underestimated; however, the authenticity of an art piece can also depend on the audience’s perspective. The authentic piece of art is a creative work whereas the copy is not. According to Gimblett authenticity might be linked to 'unmediated' encounter when the cognitive understanding is absent and the experience is sincere, original and unaffected what is distinct from a strategic self- presentation (239). Therefore, there are several time periods that must be taken into consideration when it comes to pieces of art: the time of creation, the time of presentation, and the time of reproduction. Further, the location of a piece of art can

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be considered from various perspectives: the place of creation, the place of presentation, and the place of reproduction. Thus, in a sense, the most authentic experience is that associated with the original time and place of creation. According to Newman and Bloom the audience also might see and understand the artwork differently due to external information and the identity, for instance, whether it was created in the 19th century or the 21st. For example, a vacuum cleaner presented by Jeff Koons is valued millions of dollars because of it's 'contact with the artist' whereas an identical object is worth less (Newman and Bloom 559).

In contrast, some contemporary artists tell fictitious stories that challenge the idea of authenticity. As Lambert-Beatty points out the concept of parafiction that consists of a mixture of real stories or personages and imaginary ones such an approach works when it conforms to existing roles or stereotypes, with the alignment making the story believable (54). According to her, fiction has recently emerged in contemporary art and is sometimes performed in a humorous way - as a parody (Lambert-Beatty 56). The idea of parafiction is linked to those conceptual artists who investigate questions of identity and authenticity on social media. Emma Braso describes this notion as artists being 'under a parafictional identity' and unlike using pseudonyms these parafictional characters have their own stories that might or might not correspond to their real-life identities (30). Artists like Ulman and Kassier are performing the role of a typical social media persona in a way that fits into existing narratives of how people may act on Instagram or in real life. In short, they fit the stereotypes of a 'cute girl' or ‘businessman’ but these stories are opposite from their real-life persona. By creating these fictitious characters that are believable because of existing stories on real life, and by exaggerating their roles, these artists create a parody of users’ self-representation on Instagram. These kinds of projects challenge the idea of online authenticity. As Lambert-Beatty has mentioned, the notion of parafiction is appropriate to this historical era, as a

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‘uniquely troubling’ act (58). This may be due to the blurred lines between fiction and reality. Social media has an especially strong influence on these boundaries. This also corresponds to Baudrillard's ideas of simulacra and he states that 'simulating is not pretending' (3). According to his ideas in Simulacra and Simulation simulation challenges the difference between real and imaginary. That is the reason why conceptual artists investigate how the staged user content may or may not differ that much from the real-life stories and makes the fiction believable by presenting something as 'imaginary in order to justify that the rest is real' (Baudrillard 12). As these lines between online and offline lives become blurry, some users may begin to understand themselves and define their personalities via their social media identity—a problematic development.

1.2.2. Photography as a visual form of communication

According to Plato, a painting mimics reality by using similar colours and objects. In addition to its visual aspect, a painting can be interpreted in different ways, depending on the spectator’s relationship to art and his or her level of knowledge and interest (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). In the case of photography, the spectator gets a clearer representation of the subject. Nevertheless, an image could be manipulated by technological processes and could for this reason be interpreted differently.

In relation to the concept of authenticity, photography can be discussed in several ways. To this study it is relevant to look at photography as means of documenting and representing a subject, and as a reproduction comprising on element of an art piece. Authenticity in photography is a complex notion, given the fact that photography is a highly reproducible process and images are available, ubiquitous and 'they surround us in the same way as a language surrounds us' (Berger 32). Therefore, photography has had a tremendous impact on traditional art forms, such 30

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as oil painting and sculpture, since it can reproduce a work of art and make it easily available to anyone.

With the invention of the camera everything changed, we see things that are not there in front of us—appearances travel across the world. It changed not only what we see but how we see it. It even changed the paintings painted long before it was invented. (Berger 19)

The historian of photography Naomi Rosenblum has suggested that photographs have an impact on how society perceives art: 'Photographs that reproduce art objects also have had a profound effect on the democratisation of public taste and knowledge, changing public perceptions of visual culture' (209). Thus, even if the medium of photography may truthfully present reality, it also interferes with the public’s perception of art.

In addition to that, Sadowski argues that 'the images are also physically related to the objects they represent' because of the technical properties of photography (357). While other visual art forms and previous modes of representation could be interpreted and analysed on various levels, photography clearly presents its subject by imprinting information ‘by light and chemical (or electronic) process', creating a strikingly accurate and truthful representation of the object (Sadowski). This precise representation of reality leaves thus less space for interpretation. Additionally, the information and data produced by a camera is determined by objects that are external to that device. Gunning points out that 'the mediation of lens, film stock, exposure rate, type of shutter, processes of developing, and of printing’ should be eliminated for a photograph to be considered an ‘imprint of reality’ (40). This means that the multiple technical processes when taking a photograph have an impact on the end result and alters the reality of the object

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represented on the image. For this reason, it is difficult to argue that a photograph is a direct representation of its subject.

According to Rosenblum since the mid-1970s, an element of 'commercialisation' has been present within the photographic medium, affecting how images are produced and presented (569). With the advent of advertising, photographs have increasingly become of constructed and directed realities visible everywhere from magazines to television screens. Techniques for ‘inventing images’ became more common, as objects or people were directed, sets were staged, and pictures were reshaped via editing and graphical modifications (Rosenblum 569). As images are now highly reproducible, and as fictitious visual stories became more common among contemporary artists, the idea that an image can be interpreted or imitated has changed. From that perspective, photography is an interpretation of reality, rather than a representation of it as both the artist (i.e. photographer) and the spectator are dealing with an interpretation of reality rather than a representation of it.

Photography could also be considered as a faster form of communication than, for example, painting. According to Rosenblum, photography represents a medium with less space for interpretation or imitation, as it captures a real object more precisely and quickly than a painting does. Digging deeper into the subject, Rosenblum explored the idea that photography can portray central social themes and goals, because in a way, the term documentary refers to how a photograph captures reality (339). Additionally, the medium of photography can be considered a representation of culture and society, as the photographer captures the objects or people present at a particular moment in a particular place. According to van Dijck, the purpose of photography shifted from documentation of the past towards 'using it as an instrument for interaction and peer bonding' (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age

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115). This is especially true given the wide use of digital image in everyday communication devices such as smartphones and computers.

It is difficult to define what authenticity means in photography as it is a multidimensional medium. However, an image gives a clear description of its' subject, meaning that it captures precisely a moment or an object at a given time and place. Jose van Dijck discusses that the integration of cameras into everyday devices such as smartphones has shifted the way in which people record their lives while 'reshaping personal cultural memory' as digital photography makes pictures more accessible and 'electronic processes allow for greater manipulability' (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 99). With the advent of digital photography and computer editing programs the image became a more reproducible piece of content. However, in regards with online communication on social media the digital image becomes a main tool for user interaction and information spread.

1.2.3. Authenticity in new media

Through the images posted online, the content ranges from; photos of users’ breakfasts; to selfies; to photographs of personal possessions, with the overall goal being to portray a certain lifestyle to which one aspires. Interestingly, the chief means of evaluating such content has become the responses and feedback offered by other users through comments or likes. According to Jose van Dijck in some instances, these comments even influence the subsequent content (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 56). Pictures feature prominently on Instagram as their visual attributes allow users to create a closer connection between their online and offline lifes. Miller claims that popularity of platforms such as Instagram have proven that visual communication is more effective than textual and that a conversation online could be entirely visual (207). Given this, digital images shared

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on social media reflect the lifestyles, conversations, and habits of contemporary society, thus offering a reason for studying online user behaviour, which may reveal cultural trends or issues in the offline world.

Due to the advent of the digital image, photography has evolved into a fast and easy form of online interaction. This is especially true on social media platforms and as the artist Richard Vickers has pointed out, new media technologies have introduced multiple novel forms of representation:

Images can be easily shared and disseminated via the web, which has superseded the traditional modes of presentation and publication. They can be tagged and commented on and archived for prosperity. Photography has never been so instantaneous or so disposable, one click to capture and another to delete. (Vickers in Shanks and Svabo 7)

Considering the ubiquity and transformability of the digital image in online spaces, investigating issues of authenticity in new media visual technologies might seem complex. However, digital photography functions 'as communication and identity formation' on social media (van Dijck, Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 58). The image shared online represents and communicates the aspects of users' activities and forms an understanding of persons' offline life. In addition, according to the contemporary scholars Jonas Larsen and Mette Sandbye, ‘digital technology has not only changed the way the images are produced but also the way they are used, circulated, and communicated’ (2). In the above quotation, Larsen and Sandbye are suggesting that the digital image represents the convergence of media forms, new ideas of identity, smartphones, and social media. However, these new digital media forms of communicating the self are mediated by technologies that reproduce the content so that everything fits in the same format and are presented on the same platform. According to Manovich all new media objects 'are numerical

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representations' and digital photographs become 'programmable' (52). This means that digital content is based on numbers and in the representation, it is converted from numerical data to a visual image. In a sense, it creates similar visual format experience for every user; however, on the same time it grants a unique identity by giving different numerical value to each image.

Although new media technologies have made reproduction easier and more common, digital photography and new forms of representation (e.g., sharing pictures online) have created a novel means of experiencing creative content online. The notion that ‘media affect the way people make sense of the world’ is related to the previously discussed idea that photography influences how society perceives the visual arts (Shanks and Svabo 1). The confluence of the physical and the digital is most influenced by mobile media photography aimed at documenting and engaging in everyday situations. This merges both online and offline experiences and makes the content more believable. Jose van Dijck points out that photography could be considered as a mean of 'sharing experience' (Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 59). For instance, on platforms such as Instagram, users attach the location to an image or tag people within it. Doing so acknowledges certain facts of reality that are already visible in the picture. However, the time, place, or people depicted in a photograph tend to add meaning to the image. This creates a different representation and experience of reality that is authentic in its own way, as this process quickly captures and presents everyday life while communicating several facts all at once. Koosel claims that 'the need to validate offline, "real life" information' is a part of modern society's thinking and by doing so it creates important and authentic perception of the shared content even though it might be misleading or a scam (62). This emphasis on the online presence gives meaning and importance and therefore to have an online account is accepted as a norm and a modern social experience.

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The online presence and the content posted on social media could be manipulated in terms with image and text. Additionally, mobile photography has become an amateur performance process that is documented via social networking channels:

When pictures become a visual language conveyed through the channel of communication medium, the value of individual pictures decreases while the general significance of visual communication increases. (van Dijck, Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 62)

One of the best examples of visual language through new media channels is the selfie phenomenon. This word has become a common element of contemporary speech, with a place in the Oxford Dictionary since 2013 (Baym and Senft 1588). This new form of twenty-first century self-representation initially entered our everyday lives through new forms of media and mobile technology. The selfie has become a global phenomenon and a form of online human behaviour. Selfies are created, displayed, and tracked through 'non-human elements', such as smartphones and social media platforms (Baym and Senft 1589). Therefore, Instagram platform has become a 'home' for the selfie. With more than 300 million pictures featuring the hashtag 'selfie', this form of online self-representation seems to be trending. The Instagram interface is extremely visual, and content is mostly photography-based, stimulating the idea that users’ life stories—visually illustrating the 'self'—are the foundation of this online experience. The Selfie City project by Manovich and his team is an example of an initiative on the Instagram platform exploring how online culture is connected to users’ locations. While investigating user content on Instagram, they were able to identify gender and cultural differences attributable to geographic location (A Digital Thought Facility). The findings revealed that users’ online behaviour may be connected to their place of origin, gender, and age. Their study demonstrates how the interface of Instagram allows to experience and 'read'

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different cultures across the world and, to a certain extent, becomes an international visual language.

This new and modern form of self-expression on Instagram can be understood as a dialogue consisting of instantaneous witnessing and responding. Users share their selfies or other pictures online, and their followers and friends can then instantly respond by liking and commenting. These features of the online world mimic, or resemble, people’s real-life actions or thoughts (even if there is no physical activity that corresponds to the like button). However, the question of authenticity is complicated by the fact that the pictures shared on social media platforms are most of the time staged beforehand and altered via filters and online editing tools. Koosel claims that social media user could be seen as a performer 'who has easy access to tools for mass communication' and therefore can reach a worldwide audience on social media networks (59). For instance, while the selfie is a seemingly authentic representation of a person, the creator actually plans the shot and performs for the camera, thereby staging the moment. This form of online behaviour and trend toward digital communication have encouraged media artists to investigate these online interactions online using the same platforms.

In summary, the digital image online consists of numbers, photographs, text and represents users’ offline life in a way that evokes reactions, comments and feedback from other users. Therefore, this digital process on Instagram creates a modern socialising experience and a cultural dialogue online.

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1.3. INSTAGRAM AS THE REPRESENTATOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA CULTURE

1.3.1. Social life on Instagram: the main aspects

In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars (Constine and Cutler). What started as a small Silicon Valley start-up with few employees ultimately generated a database of 700 million daily app users. Instagram is based on digital photography sharing, as it allows the user to directly upload a picture from a smartphone and to tell a ‘visual story’ to a group of followers (Shanks and Svabo 227). The platform serves as a medium where users can create their own private or public online space and share visual content. It allows users to be in control of the content on their feed (by following selected accounts and liking pictures) and to post images to their own accounts. Thus, Instagram can be considered a sort of lifestyle and a source of inspiration, as various brands, influencers, and bloggers use the platform to reach users with particular interests. Given Miller's idea of 'social media as another place in which people live' platforms like Instagram become an important habit of some people's lives (7).

The platform was initially intended to serve as an instant picture-sharing app, with a focus on personal accounts and few interface features. Over the years, however, Instagram has radically evolved into a more complex and dynamic platform with multiple purposes. By using various filters, pictures can be transformed to appear different from the original. In addition, today, users have a larger set of tools at their disposal for modifying pictures, while feeds are adjusted by Instagram’s algorithms according to users’ preferences, sponsored content comes first, and the ‘Instagram story’ feature allows users to create videos that appear on their accounts for 24 hours and then disappear. With that evolution, the culture surrounding Instagram completely changed. An emphasis on commercialisation has developed, facilitating advertisements and product sales. In addition, previously unknown people have 38

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even become famous via Instagram. New terms such as instafamous have emerged, suggesting that it is easy to become suddenly famous on Instagram, leading others to aspire to attract a large number of followers. There appears to be an obsession with the numbers of likes and followers that a user can generate, which suggests that people crave attention in a way that has not previously been seen before (Harcourt 41). To achieve this, users tend to publicly share details about their private lives. To ensure that their content is a success, users have to create an authentic experience of their lives. Instagram is the ideal platform for that purpose, as it ‘[...] lets you simply and easily tell visual stories: visuality and mobile presence are the keystones of the online social experience’ (Shanks and Svabo 227). Some users believe that it is important to update their followers about various aspects of their personal lives to gain a feeling of being accepted in this digital society, and for that reason, Instagram has received criticism. The platform is primarily criticised for its commercial aspect, which increases the sense that pictures are 'manufactured'. After a famous Instagram celebrity and model, Essena O'Neil, quit Instagram and drew attention to the idea of falseness that exists on that platform, significant media attention followed. As reported by Winkler the model said her offline life merged with her life on social media, and she came to understand herself solely in terms of her Instagram account and physical appearance. This 'manufactured' self- representation creates a fictitious reality, which users are encouraged to accept as real (Winkler).

As Instagram’s culture has changed, the interface has likewise grown more complex, providing more features and tools to moderate posts. Some features allow users to modify the content that they post, while others allow users to delete or edit comments or block other users. These tools not only allow users to be in control of their online self-representation but also give them the ability to choose what to share and how to do so. In this way, one’s online self-representation can become

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distorted and biased, as users only share what they want others to see. Moreover, with the help of Instagram features (e.g., editing tools), the manner in which an image’s time and place are represented can be easily modified. The result can be a photograph that looks different from the original or that creates certain associations with narratives that exist in the real world. In addition, it is important to understand the Instagram interface and its role in online self-representation.

1.3.2. An analysis of the Instagram interface

Instagram has two main operational elements: photography and community (Linaschke 1). On other popular digital platforms, the main focus is often elsewhere—for example, on text, music, video, or user interactions. In contrast, the Instagram interface draws the attention to the visual flair of the photographs. The visual nature of Instagram means that the focus is on photographs that can be analysed by tagged locations or people, and other data that portray users’ activities and friendships ‘shared using software’ (Manovich and Hochman). One of the distinct features of Instagram is that it limits the use of text and only allows for its inclusion when it accompanies a photo; in this manner, the visual content captures a ‘a giant photograph of social reality’ (Manovich and Hochman). By prioritising visual elements, it becomes easy to observe and make sense of our society's habits, interests, and interactions, as these components function differently than text, allowing the image to illustrate the meaning in a more visual and less descriptive way. A picture reveals more information and a clearer testimony of events than text does. It thus creates a more visual representation of one’s offline life.

Furthermore, Instagram's interface, similar to that of other social media platforms, provides tools for mimicking real-life actions, such as liking, commenting, sharing, and following. These features denote online human interactions that are in some ways similar to how people communicate offline. Moreover, Instagram also provides 40

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a wide variety of editing tools, such as filters and colour adjustment scales. However, a sharp difference here is that the photo-editing tools might exaggerate the presented reality and create something closer to fiction. This leads to the notion that such imitation is basically the key to 'social manipulation' in one support of one’s own self-interest (Terranova 8). Thus, the number of interactions (e.g., likes or comments) generated by a post determines its success, and the number of an account’s followers establishes its value, which is a form of online personal self- representation while monitoring desire and aspiration (Harcourt 47). The Instagram interface allows users to be evaluated by numbers that define their accounts and themselves. In addition, these mimicking features are presented on Instagram's interface in the form of small visual icons, and not as text, meaning that users rely on symbols visualising the online experience. Through these quantified evaluations of a digital presentation of reality, the content that passes through the Instagram interface creates a ‘distracted present’ without ‘long-term thinking and careful reflection’ (Ash, In The Interface Envelope 4). As a result, users might take less time to think, and they instead tend to associate content with the already- familiar or its numerical evaluations (i.e. likes, shares, and comments).

One of the main features of Instagram is its manipulation tools, such as filters. Through applying the filters, it can be argued that the application creates a distracted representation of offline activities. Every filter serves to give another meaning to the image. For instance, the black-and-white filters can look peaceful or melancholic, while the Valencia filter uses warmer colours that might create a romantic feeling. The X-Pro II filter brings the image to life via greater saturation and contrasting colours. Thus, Instagram affords the tools to make pictures stand out, to exaggerate reality, and to produce a certain feeling.

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In addition, some filters apply details with the time and place in which it was taken, as another important aspect of Instagram's interface is how time and location are represented. The app’s name implies its instant nature, suggesting that ‘rather than simply inhibiting thought and action, practices of technology use can be used actively to disinhibit and recalibrate the temporal perception of users’ (Ash, Technology, Technicity, and Emerging Practices of Temporal Sensitivity in Videogames 188). This means that even though Instagram is primarily an instant picture-sharing app, its interface allows for an image’s timestamp to be represented in several ways. Specifically, users can influence perceptions of when a picture was taken, when it was uploaded, and the time evoked by certain manipulation tools (filters) (Manovich and Hochman). While digital photography plays a prominent role on Instagram, there are certain filters aimed at, for instance, creating an older-looking photograph that can infuse an image with a different feeling. These multiple time experiences change how users see and understand the content presented in this context. Moreover, a user’s geographical experience also changes when the interface suggests tagging a photo to a specific venue. For example, viewers can review all other photographs taken in a particular location, make connections to the location's purpose, and make sense of the activities usually associated it.

The operative logic of Instagram, [encourages] people to understand themselves as time and place (due to the very nature of the geo– temporal image) while offering a profound immersion in planetary documentation mechanisms. (Manovich and Hochman)

This means that the representation of time and place plays a key role, as users tag themselves at a specific location and at a specific time. Each image implies a constantly changing representation of time and place, while documenting these experiences via the interface. Moreover, these geo-temporal features help users to

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create a certain image, to evoke particular lifestyle associations, and to then present these to their followers.

Instagram’s interface is, however, fairly restrictive, and the same features are available to every user. The result of this uniformity is content reproduction that creates a similar experience. Some users truly care about the quality of their posts, as they desire more likes and followers. Inspired by the stream of photography that they encounter, users tend to arrange and edit their own photos in a manner similar to what they see on Instagram, a cycle that eventually leads to the ‘harmonisation of tastes’ (Chayka). This means that at first glance, most content looks the same. Additionally, as the interface is limited to some extent, it provides the same features for all users, thus creating a certain visual culture on the platform. As users try to improve and modify their pictures before posting them, authenticity and a sense of genuineness might be lost. As a result, a reproduced image does not present the true reality at the moment the picture was taken. Therefore, restricted by the Instagram interface, users produce similar content in terms of style, format, and even evaluation.

The feedback received in the form of likes, comments, or impressions allow users to make a quick decision about a picture. Additionally, the metrics counting social interactions on Instagram also manipulate user experiences. These figures track the number of a user’s followers, likes, and comments and quantify online social activity. If, for instance, more than five users have commented on a post, the interface suggests that users can ‘view all five comments’. In this way, the comments become metrics quantifying the user experience and self-interest (Grosser). In this case, the interface emphasizes how many comments a post garners, rather than who did the commenting. The numbers assign a certain value and importance to users’ accounts, accentuating the number-driven nature of Instagram’s culture. For

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instance, an individual is more likely to follow an account with millions of followers than one with a hundred followers, as the larger number suggests the former account's social value. Numbers are also a very strong indicator when it comes to user satisfaction, as these quantifications of social interactions represent the desire for ‘more’ that capitalism encourages (Grosser). In this way, the hierarchical structure in the social culture surrounding Instagram is comparable to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. To begin, the basic concept of psychological needs is analogous to collecting connections, while the need for a sense of belonging and status is represented by creating an Instagram account as a means of ‘belonging’ to this digital culture. What follows next is the 'self-actualisation' and realising that other people find one’s content interesting and enjoyable (Abrosimova). On Instagram, these feelings might be triggered by user interactions that the platform calculates and presents as metrics. To receive feedback on their content, it is essential for users to make connections with others and to create a social circle of users following one another.

Furthermore, a social aspect is heavily ingrained in Instagram’s interface. Instagram helps users to build a personal or public audience, and it connects users to each other by recommending accounts to follow and allowing individuals to conduct searches based on certain identifying features, such as locations, hashtags, suggestions, or the feed adjusted to the previously liked or followed content. Users employ hashtags to reference certain aspects of their lifestyle that are present in a picture, such as locations, brands, or items (e.g., #Stedelijkmuseum, #Starbucks, #Flowers and so forth). If an image suggests that a person is interested in a certain activity or if it contains particular details, it is likely that the user will place a hashtag caption underneath it. Doing so attracts the attention of other users, helping them to find the account and facilitating worldwide connections. Hashtags create a network of interests that connect people from all over the world. In consequence, by

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simply combining the hashtag sign and a word, a user can explore other accounts that have tagged the same keyword. These online connections on Instagram are created in a different manner to how relationships are built in the offline world; this new form of technology makes it easy to find others sharing the same aspects of lifestyle.

By following other accounts, users receive a stream of new information about various subjects, such as places, products, people, and fashion, depending on the accounts followed. This feature fosters the development of certain communities within Instagram. These networks bring together users with the same tastes and habits, and so the platform could ‘also be used for reading of local social and cultural events’ (Manovich and Hochman). Therefore, the culture that surrounds Instagram not only changes the ways in which people interact but also allows us to make sense of contemporary society and existing social trends by forming online community. Instagram photographs suggest personal, and supposedly authentic experiences; however, by following other people, this leads to similar perceptions of content representation, leading users to imitate what they see on other accounts. This leads to the idea that users can reinforce their perceptions of reality because they are only seeing the same kind of content.

Overall, different representations of time, place, interactions, and feedback on Instagram create an online user experience that makes them encounter real-life images through the particular features of the interface. This unique online experience creates a new form of self-representation and online identity that others can instantly evaluate. Those Instagram posts that are primarily of a private nature (e.g., selfies) produce authentic and more personal feeling about the content. As a result of these constantly changing and highly prevalent trends, a new online culture is forming around Instagram and shaping people’s behaviour both online and

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offline. In addition, the question of whether people’s behaviour on Instagram and in real-life should be treated as comparable is debatable. Both scholars and artists are interested in questions regarding authenticity on social media platforms. Three selected media artists Ulman, Kassier and Wollen use Instagram as a platform for their performance. These media artists experiment with the Instagram community while fitting into the narratives of social media culture. In this way, they examine the questions of authenticity while building an online identity. This creates a dialogue between conceptual art and new media technologies that is activated by Instagram's user activity.

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2. AUTHENTICITY OF CONCEPTUAL ART IN SOCIAL MEDIA: CASE STUDIES

The idea of authenticity is what supposedly drives Instagram users to participate on that platform on a daily basis, to create realistic representations of their lives, and to employ the lens of digital photography in an attempt to 'be themselves'. Hereby, while updating their followers on the details of their personal lives, users try to appear genuine and real in exchange for attention, and Instagram’s platform gives users full control of their online self-representation. Nevertheless, by slightly adjusting their photographs or staging the content, users create a parallel life that may tend toward fiction. Furthermore, online influencers, such as celebrity Kim Kardashian, advertisements about fashion brands, and mass-media channels in general, promote stereotyped roles that create certain visual stories on social media. As these influencers have a significant number of followers the narratives they promote become acknowledged and understood as a modern life norm. Therefore, it brings the eagerness for the users to portray 'more socially desirable identities that we aspire to have offline but haven't been able to achieve' (Harcourt 130).

Online identities are influenced and built with the help of Instagram interface. For instance, users must create a username to register an account; those monikers define users, as their followers usually know them by these nicknames, rather than by their actual name. The web frequently reproduces these behaviour patterns and ‘converts aspects of our identity into a single category on a drop-down menu’ (Kinsey). For example, when registering on social media, we are presented with pre- determined categories and asked to define ourselves in terms of gender, age, and location. It then becomes easier for users to define themselves through techniques such as tagging. The use of these categories in the online environment raises several questions about contemporary society.

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To analyse more deeply this phenomenon, three artists using Instagram as their main artistic platform were chosen: Ulman, Kassier, and Wollen. All explore the question of authenticity by addressing social media narratives in their online work. While performing either themselves or a supposedly authentic but actually fictitious character online, they address notions of gender, class, and power that are represented on Instagram. For example, Ulman’s internet series 'Excellences & Perfections' received a significant amount of media attention and recognition in the arts world. She created a fictitious persona representing three dominant trends within online culture: 'cute girl', 'sugar babe', and 'life goddess' (Langmuir). She shared allegedly honest and genuine content that was, in fact, all staged. Ulman imitated the actions of young girls active on Instagram and explored how women present themselves online. Her work demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate users through existing female stereotypes.

Kassier, who portrays a rich alpha male on his Instagram account, illustrates another example of the phenomenon. His work criticises the narcissistic and materialistic culture that is encouraged online. The artist's inspiration comes from photography and advertising, as he mixes these techniques (with humour) to perform a certain character online, one that differs from his real-life persona in terms of class and power (Mayroth). As his work is a parody, the content is visibly staged and graphically edited, as those techniques allow Kassier to underscore the falseness enacted by many Instagram users and to bring attention to a consumption- driven approach to life. He explores how one’s digital self influences offline behaviour, and vice versa. Ulman's work and Kassier's work are similar in that both investigate how the gap between online and offline personas is shifting. Moreover, they both focus on aspects of lifestyle representation on Instagram. In other respects, the work of the two artists differs, as they investigate these notions from individual, gendered perspectives.

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The third case concentrates on Wollen's 'Sad Girl Theory'. That artist uses Instagram to state her feminist beliefs, and she emphasises the objectification of the female body in art history and online. By performing herself on Instagram and drawing on her life experiences for inspiration, the artist tries to establish the idea of girls' sadness as an act of protest and political resistance (Watson). While Wollen does not use a fictitious character and instead posts seemingly authentic content, her work still represents an online performance, as she believes that the online experience is an inevitable notion that is moderated by means of visual content and text (Tongco).

Overall, all of the artists recognise that authentic self-representation in online spaces barely exists or is no longer important in today’s world. Interestingly, all of them criticise the Instagram community within that same platform as of 'the growing trend of basing our knowledge and trust in the online world of user created content' (Koosel 62). However, the commercialisation of the platform accelerated the notion of gender stereotypes on Instagram and changed its purpose. According to Harcourt people get highly distracted and seduced by the advertisements they see (20). Therefore, users' content on Instagram may no longer represent their real lives but rather serves as an advertised digital self. These artists all address this similar phenomenon, but from different perspectives.

Amalia Ulman: Challenging class, gender, and sexuality through social media

Ulman is an Argentinian-born, Spanish-raised, and Los Angeles-based contemporary artist who practices in spheres such as performance, installation, video, and internet-art works. Her most controversial project is 'Excellences & Perfections', and it addresses class, gender, and sexuality. The Instagram platform was integral to that project, as Ulman created a fictitious persona who then moved through three 49

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phases: 'cute girl', 'sugar babe', and 'life goddess'. This experiment proved how easy it is to manipulate an audience through stereotyped and supposedly authentic and private content on social media. As reported by Sooke, even colleagues working at art galleries made comments to the artist about her personal pictures on Instagram, suggesting that people would not take her seriously in the art world and that she needed to stop posting. Ultimately, she posed the question of what a female artist should look like. Little did her critics know that the project was an intentional online art series. While performing and sharing details of her fictitious life, the artist dyed her hair, changed her style, broke up with her boyfriend, and supposedly even underwent plastic surgery. All of her followers (around 90,000 at the time) were deceived by the act. By sharing what were apparently the most private and authentic details of her personal life, Ulman became a star on Instagram and attracted a vast number of followers. A large number of those followers were ‘donated’ by a Dutch artist, Constant Dullaart. Dullaart is also active in media art, and so to promote internet-art, he bought 2.5 million Instagram followers for a number of artists active on that platform. By supporting several artists in that way, Dullaart has suggested that the ‘audience is a commodity’ and that a large number of followers would give one an advantage in supporting artists online and even make a contribution to art (Duray).

Ulman has noted that she did not approve of the existing stereotype of the young female artist and that it seemed 'boring’ to her. Ulman has mentioned in multiple interviews that the idea of ‘self-branding’ makes her uncomfortable (Kissick; Langmuir). In addition, this archaic perception of a female artist inspired her to think of another way to represent herself, an idea that led her to explore the opposite of the stereotypical notion (Langmuir). For instance, nude selfies are not considered a respectable representation of an artist (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

While struggling for a few years after graduating, the artist had not earned a significant amount of money from her art, and decided to take a low-budget approach in her career. She opted to use mobile photography for documentation and her Instagram account for publication. By mixing the techniques of ‘posting confusing information, over-posting, over-sharing, and over-tagging’, Ulman diverted user attention towards her online and offline personal transformations (Cornell). Additionally, while she was building this fictitious digital self, she hoped that the project would be a success and positively influence her offline artist persona as well. Firstly, her digital self had a negative impact on her reputation as an artist, but in the end, Ulman’s Instagram project contributed to her success, and she became widely known among conceptual artists. According to the gallerist James Fuentes, the strength of Ulman's work lies in how she can ‘understand, dissect, and embrace extreme polarities’ (Fuentes in Langmuir). Certain artists may not even consider such a strategy, viewing it as far removed from their area of expertise. However, Ulman offered a constructive critique by using an 51

unconventional and informal approach, incorporating elements such as online imitation. The artist's real-life and online selves are complete opposites, but with the help of new media technologies, she managed to make the two identities merge. Ulman's two selves complimented each other, as the documentation of her online persona eventually led to her intentions and thoughts being revealed as an artist. As Lillemose points out, artists working 'with conceptual possibilities of the systems' results in new ways of 'working with materialities' that may not even be related to arts (124). Given this, it creates a fruitful dialogue between an Instagram user and a conceptual artist.

'Excellences & Perfections' took place between April and September 2014 on Ulman's personal Instagram account. The project was presented at several major exhibitions in London, including 'Electronic Superhighway' at Whitechapel Gallery and ‘Performing for the Camera’ at Tate Modern. Ulman's series was well-received in the art world, as her manipulations of user perceptions on social media platforms had challenged gender stereotypes. This reception within the art world is important to note, as it was controversial in a way that the project travelled from Instagram to the gallery; art more typically follows the opposite trajectory. According to Meecham and Sheldon new technologies in modern art 'challenge the institutional authority' of the museum as artworks become more ubiquitous and enter 'the public sphere without formally being housed in a gallery' (235).

'Excellences & Perfections' sets the idea of gender as a performance in the specific context of how we reward and value images of women online’ (Kinsey). There are different behavioural standards for women online and in the real world. For instance, private pictures of lingerie do not surprise Instagram users, as they are accustomed to the advertisements that have influenced this online trend. However, the Instagram terms of service states that nudity and pornographic content is not

allowed. Nonetheless, it is common for women to pose in their underwear to attract attention online and easy to find accounts where the content is raw and explicit. This relates to the idea of users' desire 'not only expose [themselves], [...] surveil others and build narratives around them' (Harcourt 129). Interestingly, Instagram users tend to share more intimate content on their public accounts than in real-life. Moreover, as they initially receive more feedback online for explicit content compared to content with a closer resemblance to real-life habits, this is encouraging users to use that practice. In her project, Ulman relied not only on Instagram as a platform but also on this kind of user’s behaviour. The comments and feedback from other accounts were often judgmental and characterised by jealousy, and these responses encouraged her to continue with her work and became a significant part of her performance. As van Dijck argues the 'constant feedback loop between self and others' is what mediates the online social experience and contributes to formations of digital self (Mediated Memories in the Digital Age 56). While Ulman’s whole performance was staged, the reactions from other users were genuine, which made her account seem even more authentic.

The question arises as to why users assumed the content was genuine. Ulman achieved the online popularity that she did, because she was mimicking social media roles that are familiar to users, as she drew on ideas about, for example, ‘cute girls’, ‘bad girls’, and ‘models’. Relying on these characters and narratives made her account appear more credible, and users could easily navigate the content (Kinsey). By trying to seem as authentic as possible, Ulman publicly shared her body, sense of privacy, diverse inner thoughts, and daily life with her followers (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Moreover, the topic of authenticity is the main focus in 'Excellences & Perfections'. Ulman created an authentic experience for the user, allowing others to follow her life story. As Lambert-Beatty claims 'parafictions in general are performative, [...] they effect or produce something rather than describe or denote it' (61). Ulman's fictitious story became a success, as it raises the question of what people should share on Instagram. Throughout her project, Ulman observed her follower numbers, reactions, and the comments she was receiving, and she explored how women’s identities are distorted. Questions concerning the size of the gap between one’s online and offline identities could also be posed for Ulman herself. On a separate note, not all references in 'Excellences & Perfections' were entirely fictitious. To make the project more realistic, Ulman actually attended yoga classes, learned pole dancing, underwent facial injections (although the plastic surgery pictures were fakes) (Figure 3, 4, 5).

Figure 5. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Furthermore, the 'sugar baby' phase was inspired by her real-life, as the artist revealed that she had worked as an escort in London (Kinsey). This experience helped her to seem more genuine, as she had experienced similar conditions in her real-life. Additionally, the pictures that Ulman posted were not photoshopped or highly edited, and so there was not a lot of technical falsification behind it. Ulman's project seemed more authentic and genuine for users, as it was influenced by her past personal experiences and as bold, suggestive content this contributed to the building of her online identity.

By creating a seemingly authentic experience through telling her life story on Instagram, Ulman proved that authenticity could be easily faked by posting mobile photographs resembling real-life. In a way, social media could be regarded as a place 'in which people live, alongside their office life, home life and community life' (Miller et al. 7). That is why Ulman's project demonstrated how people tend to take the visual content that they see as documentation of actual events. The 'Excellences & Perfections' series consisted of a montage of documented real-life moments illustrating how simple it is to create a new identity on Instagram. The real Ulman who appeared in the images and the fictitious persona behind those images made the project an exceptional piece of art exploring the question of online authenticity.

Andy Kassier: Criticism of the narcissist male on Instagram

Kassier presents himself as a successful, rich, and good-looking man. Always well- dressed, perfectly posing in a beautiful place or next to an expensive car with a glass of champagne, and a confident look to the horizon or straight towards the camera: That is how Kassier portrays himself on social media. However, if users take more than just a few seconds to examine his account, they receive the impression that Kassier is an artist, as his bio section on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram mentions that fact. As reported by Meier, the artist is based in Berlin and Cologne, he deals with the conception and construction of contemporary success stories in advertising and media (Meier). As a photographer, he works with the contradiction between advertising and art, as he is trying to overcome the barrier that separates these fields. Social media platforms are the stage for his performance, and he places a particular emphasis on Instagram. The ‘Science of Happiness’ installation at the Pop Up 68 gallery in Cologne presented an exaggerated criticism of a lifestyle and society driven by money and performance.

For me, materialism is totally old school. It is not about possessing something, but about the possibility to be for a certain time with something: availability rather than possession. I do not want to have a car, but I want to drive one, maybe just one day, one week, one year— but it does not have to belong to me because I do not need it. (Kassier in Mayroth)

As the consumerism, class, power trends exist online and features such as Like button 'measures people's desire for things or affinity to ideas' social media platforms serve as a perfect space to criticise such developments (van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity 158). Kassier's bold tweets—including ‘My life is a constant

decision between pool and spa’, ‘All my girlfriends are models’, and ‘My life be like: never working always selfies’ —suggest that the artist is actually presenting a parody of typical narcissistic roles (mostly male). This is because some of the user mind-sets are related to these ideas, although they rarely express them in such a straightforward nature. Those users who advertise their enviable lives and appearances on social media in exchange for attention are the main subject of Kassier's investigation. He has thoroughly studied all of the Instagram accounts and blogs featuring hashtags like #motivation, #winner, #goals, #coaching, #entrepreneurlifestyle, #successdriven, #mindbodysoul, and #hardworkpaysoff, with the intention of criticising modern society’s emphasis and constant necessity to brag about success and wealth. Thus, Kassier presents an idea that digital photography and new media are shaping and moderating contemporary society and influencing the art world. This is possible due to social media platforms as they bring together a user and 'a potential audience that could never been imagined before' (Harcourt 129).

When he started posting photographs of his project on Facebook in 2012, questions of identity and gender roles were interesting to him, and he was particularly fascinated by how real-life individuals differ from their online identities. Kassier has argued that authenticity is far too mundane; nobody wants to see an authentic photograph of lunch (Kassier in Meier). For that reason, Kassier portrays a better picture of his daily life on Instagram by exaggerating details, such as his clothing, and by using suggestive text captions. By constantly traveling and producing content for his Instagram account, Kassier imitates the fashion bloggers, influencers, and celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, who regularly feed us posts centred on shopping, hotels, and other luxurious elements. Furthermore, as Instagram is the main stage for fashion bloggers and celebrities, Kassier also exists in the art gallery. The artist does, however, use social media platforms to present his work, offer

criticism, make a statement, and seek attention. However, in this case, his self- presentation is not authentic in any way; in fact, it is the opposite.

Measuring success on social media is simple with the help of the interface’s metrics. Based on the idea that a large number of followers could add value to his Instagram account, Kassier has thought about buying 100,000 followers, as doing so would give him even more influence on social media as he presents his art (Meier). Nonetheless, performing a fictitious persona to a group of fictitious followers would not be as meaningful as organically collect those fans. Organic followers are active users who consciously choose to follow a certain account in which they are interested. On the other hand, purchased followers usually represent inactive accounts and do not show engagement. Instead, they only contribute to the account’s numerical figures.

According to Kassier, what sparks this narcissistic trend on Instagram is envy. That emotion arises when one person has something that others do not have—or, even worse—cannot have. His photos criticise excessive consumption and materialism (Mayroth). In addition, persistent advertising has influenced Kassier's work, as have the characters usually portrayed in that medium (Figure 6, 7). The pictures Kassier posts resemble model photo-shoots or professional campaign images edited in an unrealistic and aesthetic way; in short, they demonstrate a 'perfect world'. As similar images are used to promote brands within the commercial advertising world, Kassier demonstrates the branding of the self.

Figure 6. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Kassier has over 4,000 followers on his Instagram account, a number that is rising every day. His profile says ‘Success is just a smile away’, with that tagline followed by suggestive festive emojis and a link to a personal website (www.andykassier.com). Kassier has 154 posts (as of 2 September, 2017), the first of which was added on 29 July 2013. The initial pictures did not engage with users as much as the later ones did, probably due to the lower number of followers and the more ordinary content. At the beginning, he used a different format in terms of quality, text, and the consistency of filters (Figure 8, 9).

Figure 9. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Moreover, compared to the newest pictures, the older ones seem like a regular personal Instagram account, with images of landscapes and objects. In contrast, the most recent ones suggest a certain level of professionalism and only portray Kassier's figure. Noticeable peaks in the number of likes have followed his exhibition posts and selfies with the hashtags #money, #success, and #yolo (Figure 10). The greatest engagement came quite recently in 2017, when Kassier started only posting quality pictures of himself featuring a particular the caption and hashtag structure. The recently posted professional-looking pictures suggest that Kassier is living a luxurious lifestyle; these pictures have received the most likes, although it is not clear whether all his followers understand the sarcasm underlying the images. An examination of some accounts that have commented on his posts suggests that some users have reach out to Kassier because they trust the content as genuine. For instance, some users have even asked if Kassier would like to collaborate on projects with them. In Figure 11, a user is asking Kassier if he would like to be a brand model. That inquiry suggests that online visual content can easily manipulate and direct some users, as Kassier is portraying a model but is actually an

artist. Interestingly, his account has gained acceptance from the very users that he is mocking.

Figure 11. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Kassier first began using Instagram for personal purposes. However, when asked what triggered his decision to use it for an art project, he mentioned that he always had the intention ‘to reflect the gap between my real person and the online persona'

and to portray a life that is different from his reality (Kassier)1. His work raises the question of how simple it is to create a fictitious person or to adopt a certain role. According to him, some users trust his content as genuine: ‘I visited my uncle in Switzerland, just a really basic thing, but it works on social media in a way to show off, create that kind of persona’ (Kassier) (Figure 12).

Kassier started as a photographer, and so it is easy for him to express his art via pictures or videos: ‘Instagram, in this case, just got bigger and bigger. I do not think there is really an alternative’ (Kassier). However, the culture surrounding this platform has evolved and is now more focused on representing lifestyle aspects and portraying a distorted reality, as ‘at first it was just about snapping your real-life moments, and now it is more about staging those moments’ (Kassier). This shift in the platform's purpose and features that influence 'the ways we experience, analyze and use cultural data' is what interests the artist the most (Manovich and Hochman).

Moreover, while scrolling through his Instagram feed, a location is usually added to the posts, and in most cases, the place suggests a luxurious lifestyle (e.g., The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zürich). This notion is strongly connected to the platform’s interface features allowing users to tag a place and to create a specific representation of an activity. The tagged locations on the Instagram interface suggest not only a location but also certain types of activities (e.g., a business meeting or a holiday). Therefore, when a user tags a location, followers can more easily and quickly make sense of the posted content. On the other hand, this feature can also be manipulated, with people pretending to be in a certain location: ‘Sometimes, I am sneaking into a luxurious hotel and taking a picture’ (Kassier) (Figure 13). Thus, a user’s perceptions can be easily manipulated and influenced via Instagram.

1 See Appendix 62

Figure 13. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

However, as regards user interactions with this type of artificial content, the first question that arises is whether viewers understand the concept. According to Kassier, some followers believe that his photographs are genuine and represent his real-life. By sharing business-oriented motivational pictures featuring related hashtags (e.g., #success and #money) the artist attracts certain types of users that ‘fit into my idea of the “business guys” that love themselves’ and criticize them throughout his work (Kassier). Although Kassier shares content revealing that he is an artist (e.g., pictures from exhibitions and his profile description)—the level of engagement with his staged posts is rising rapidly. Some people follow the account, because they know he is an artist, but others find him via the Instagram interface features (e.g., hashtags and tagging), as they are interested in the lifestyle he is portraying.

Kassier's pictures create a mosaic of the commercial digital culture that surrounds the Instagram platform. Authentic self-representation on Instagram does not exist anymore, according to Kassier. If such a concept ever existed, he has claimed, it was 63

in the beginning, ‘when you first use Instagram and accidentally post a picture of yourself, because you do not know how to use it’ (Kassier). According to him, authenticity is very difficult to define and could have multiple meanings: ‘So, is it more authentic if others take pictures of you or you take pictures of you?’ (Kassier). Even a selfie for example, is difficult to define as authentic, because the emotions are staged for the camera, and do not necessarily represent truthfully the moment.

In the case of Kassier, the artist considers his Instagram account as ‘the opposite of authenticity’ (Kassier). When asked about how the culture of Instagram influences offline human behaviour, Kassier reflected, responding, ‘How much my real persona has influenced my fake persona? How big or small is the gap between them?’ (Kassier). According to the artist, getting into the role of his fictitious persona has influenced him, and the gap between his real-life self and his created self is always shifting. Certain pieces of elegant clothing that appear in the photographs multiple times are even ripped (although this is not evident in the pictures) (Figure 14).

Figure 14. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

In this way, the artist criticises the materialistic mind-sets of Instagram users and establishes himself as opposed to consumerism. Nevertheless, by portraying a luxurious lifestyle, he has proven how simple it is to exaggerate reality via Instagram. Interestingly, according to Kassier, the question of how Instagram influences human bodies is worth discussing, as ‘classic gender roles on Instagram exist’ (Kassier). To be more specific, women take selfies out of the desire to be considered beautiful. Men take selfies for a different reason: to show off and portray themselves as powerful. In addition, the artist has also pointed out that Instagram is coming to resemble advertising to an increasingly close degree. This form of exaggerated self-representation creates an aspirational image of reality, and advertising does the same as 'new technology often allows individuals to imagine different kinds of lives' (Miller et al. 197). This effect is achieved by modifying content and manipulating the information presented via the interface features. Users tag people, places, and brands that in a way labels their accounts and provides social value. This tagging classifies the account and associates with a certain societal role (e.g., with a luxurious versus a middle-class lifestyle).

In conclusion, as regards the role of Instagram in Kassier's career, the platform has contributed to his work in several ways. The artist uses his Instagram account to perform his fictitious persona, when he could also promote his art and post pictures from exhibitions. However, Kassier is especially interested in self-performance and in criticising the contemporary male Instagram user. When asked if Instagram has contributed to his success as an artist, Kassier responded, ‘Success in the case of getting people to know about me, yes; success in the art market, no. It definitely helps to spread the word’ (Kassier). The artist has also highlighted that a certain number of followers can proof validity of the Instagram account. Nevertheless, he thinks that buying followers crosses a line, and he prefers to organically collect follower by participating in interviews, exhibitions, and the art world outside of

Instagram. In addition, Kassier is currently working on a new exhibition similar to the ‘Science of Happiness’.

Audrey Wollen: Sadness as a form of resistance online

Wollen is a Los Angeles-based artist who is well-known in the contemporary art world for her internet art series, ‘Sad Girl Theory’. The artist challenges established ideas of gender, politics, and traditional art history in the context of modern contemporary culture and online self-representation. As reported by Watson modern feminism calls for women to be positive, successful, and confident (Watson). This raises the question of what happens when one does not fit this standard. Wollen has proposed a different approach to feminism, one instead centred on being sad. According to the artist, girls and women should not perceive feeling sad as a shameful or weak act. In fact, it could even unite, empower, or encourage girls to protest and 'fight back' against the perpetual demand for positivity and self-love (Tunnicliffe). Representations of sadness in online spaces can be viewed as a form of resistance to political, gender, and societal norms in a Western context. Additionally, Wollen receives her inspiration from iconic sad girls, such as Marilyn Monroe, Frida Kahlo, Lana Del Rey, Edie Sedgwick, and the biblical character of Eve. Opposed to the pop-cultural influence of these women, the notion of female sadness and melancholy is still considered a taboo. Throughout history, it was ignored as a meaningless and 'dumb' act (Wollen in Tunnicliffe). However, often dismissed as teenage angst and narcissistic panic, mental health diseases such as depression make up the number one cause of suicide of girls between the age of 15 and 19 (WHO). Wollen has claimed that the difficulties of being a young girl should be acknowledged by society and that sadness is a very appropriate reaction (Tunnicliffe). To promote her ideas, Wollen uses social media platforms, with a particular focus on Instagram.

According to Lillemose when 'conceptual art sets materiality free from the object' it becomes more realistic and approachable for the audience (121). That is why the artist uses her personal Instagram account as the primary platform for the project, as ‘I’m much more likely to reach the 12-year-old girl who hates herself on Instagram than in a white cube gallery space’ (Wollen in Tongco). All the topics that interest Wollen could clearly be examined by visually analysing her Instagram account. The way she addresses body, gender, politics and arts topics is particular in terms of how she manipulates her image in stereotypical role situations. By means of mobile photography and online sharing, the artist's online performance makes a strong statement about aforementioned beliefs. Moreover, Wollen started using Instagram as a platform for her work, because it is accessible, free, and easily discoverable by others. On the other hand, the platform provides an opportunity for people to control how they present themselves, manipulate their own performances, and construct a new identity as mentioned previously.

The first post on Wollen’s Instagram account appeared on 22 August 2012. As of 2nd September 2017, she had almost 25,000 followers, shared 760 posts, and was following over 400 accounts. These metrics suggests account's credibility and define the size of Wollen's audience. By using mobile photography, Wollen documents her thoughts and experiences on Instagram, while also positioning herself in the discourse on arts, femininity, and the performance of gender roles. Her account clearly presents itself as a common personal one, with pictures of friends, her mother, school-related content, personal details, and herself. However, the first pictures did not attract a lot of engagement.

Figure 15. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

In this example (Figure 15), Wollen posted an awkward-looking snapshot of herself, followed by the caption ‘my rich person disguise’ which collected 36 likes. The textual captions highlight the 'sad', nihilistic humour and sarcasm, which stand in contrast to the pictures. However, reviewing her posts from 2012-2013, the artist is barely visible, with only a few selfies and photographs of friends and family. Another example of the artist’s sarcasm in the captions, is a post on which a huge raincloud can be spotted and the caption states: ‘english summer – pls note looming raincloud’ (Figure 16). In this picture, users can see the artist's family and friends, what creates a connection between her online and offline identities.

Since the beginning of the account it is notable that Wollen rarely smiles or laughs in the pictures. On 19 February 2014, Wollen posted a selfie with tears and the caption ‘born crying’ (Figure 17) that received 131 likes—a significantly higher number than what most of the previous pictures had received. Users see a close-up of Wollen's face, with wide-open eyes and glittery stickers in place of tears. That post may mark one of the first pictures associated with ‘Sad Girl Theory’. Thus, in 2014, the artist's Instagram account started to see more activity. 68

Figure 17. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Although similar to other artists engaging with social media, Wollen’s approach stands out in the way that it addresses issues from a personal, genuine perspective. On Instagram, she posts seemingly authentic content about her everyday life as the images include her home environment and typical daily activities of a girl. In this example (Figure 18), the artist shares a moment before a Thanksgiving dinner, with caption implying that her mother does not agree with her outfit choice. By making this comment, she tends to create an online dialogue between her and teenage girls that have similar discussions with their mothers. Given her awareness of the fact that her work mostly addresses young girls, she knowingly frames herself more child-like to fit into a narrative of a teenage girl. In this image, her shy posture, combined with clothing details such as a ribbon, invokes associations with the image of a young girl (Figure 19). Conclusively, Wollen, although an adult herself, tends to portray an image of a fragile, unprotected and almost 'weak' girl.

Figure 19. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017. .

In addition, as the artist was raised by a single mother, she strongly emphasises the role of the mother with her work. Wollen's mother is featured in many pictures, and even when she is not pictured, the caption sometimes comments on the relationship with her mother. The caption on the post (Figure 20) mentions ‘like mother like daughter’ and illustrates Wollen's friend holding a doll, both covered with eye make up in the same way, suggesting that daughters look like their mothers what again fits into real-life narrative and image of the mother role.

Figure 20. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017. .

In another example (Figure 21) Wollen shares a selfie with her mother describing her as her ‘wedding date’. The language suggests that instead of a boyfriend companion, she chooses to bring her mother to the wedding. Her Instagram feed makes clear that the connection between them is very strong. Furthermore, she often posts pictures of her childhood, featuring her parents (Figure 22). This constant framing of herself as a daughter further 'infantilizes' Wollen, as she tends to portray a teenager rather than an adult and Instagram interface gives her the ability to '[control] her work onto that of a woman [controls] her body' (Lambert- Beatty 71). This self-representation that is mediated via existing real-life narratives results in Wollen's ideas being revealed through a performance of a young girl.

The artist shares her own experience of being female and daily activities, for instance doctor visits. As Wollen was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 14, she 71

regularly goes to the hospital to monitor any signs of a recurrence. These visits are one topic that she has addressed on Instagram throughout the years. However, the main focus is not on her illness, but rather on the objectification of the human body and the patriarchal structures that exists in the hospital. To address objectification of the female body, she firstly objectifies herself. According to Wollen, ‘taking selfies in hospital rooms opens up a small bubble of autonomy in a world where I am objectified the most’ (Wells). From all her pictures made in a hospital, the first one was shared on the 16th April 2014. In this image (Figure 23), Wollen is wearing a mini-dress and posing in a suggestive way as she reflects that the hospital is a place where individuals visit to be examined by strangers who undress, measure and if necessary cut the human body. As Harcourt states 'the digital self, the second body [...], is overtaking his analog physical existence' what makes the digital self more tangible and demonstrable (236). This fits with Wollen's idea that individual performative practices are possible outside of artistic discourse. While she documents her body medically, she also does so by means of digital photography and online sharing as she continuously records the doctor visits by posing as a mannequin or a doll.

Figure 23. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017. .

In this example (Figure 24) it is notable that there is no emotion in her face, so the emphasis is put on her body. Some of the poses that she performs during these sessions seem contradictory to the hospital environment and the reasons to go there, and the presence of nudity creates the same effect. Usually, the hospital is a clinical atmosphere, as people visit the doctor to be treated for illnesses. Thus, her sexually charged poses in this clinical environment evoke the notion of pornography. As she mentioned in one of her posts, ‘Ann Hirsch once said, “I believe that whenever you put your body online, in some way you are in conversation with porn” and I would extend that to, whenever you exist, online or irl [in real life], as a girl’. The artist uses her own body and nudity to portray how 'reality and fiction work together in the construction of an artist's identity' (Braso 31).

Figure 24. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Unlike other artists addressing authenticity online, Wollen has a different opinion. To her, trying to be authentic is not particularly important, which is perhaps why her work seems genuine and natural.

I don’t care about seeming authentic. [...] This idea of the authentic as this inherently good, measurable, static thing that you can either be or not be—it’s a truly bizarre and horribly oppressive ideal… It leaves no room for uncertainty, plurality, wobbly ideas, or personhoods. (Wollen in Wells)

Wollen does not try to be authentic. In a way, that her work as authentic in terms of expression. According to Dutton, authenticity of expression refers to the degree of passion and genuineness that an artist pours into his or her work. In addition, Wollen has also claimed that there is no strict definition of authenticity and that all social media users are in a way performing their lives online via 'technology and language' (Tongco).

In this regard, the language she uses adds a critical component to this project. In some cases, the image itself contains text communicating the ideas she wants to put forward with her post. According to Lillemose within the dematerialisation of the art object 'language and matter, conceptualisation and materiality, are inseparable' (129). In this particular case (Figure 25), the text on her face says ‘Only an image’, and the caption states ‘This is not a girl’. It is clear that what she demonstrates in the image is a girl (herself) but with the language she contrasts it in a way that it would seem as an object of a girl.

Figure 25. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

On the other hand, in some cases, the caption is more explicit, explaining her thoughts in a more direct manner. In this example (Figure 26), Wollen explains why she created the ‘Sad Girl Theory’ series via a long text in the caption of the post. The text clearly states the purpose of the project, and there are no hidden meanings: ‘[...] my work is about Girls being Alone and Sad and not trying to fix it, assuage it, make it more palatable’. In this way, she uses metaphors, direct language, and visual content to address her audience, that is mostly comprised of female teenagers. Wollen plays not only with her audience but also with the concept of authenticity 75

online. By the means of Instagram features her 'self becomes the centre of a virtual universe made up of informational and spatial flows' (van Dijck, Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 115). In other words, her online life is always on the borderline between authentic and fictional facts and events. In this end, she participates in the 'communal photographic exchanges that mark identity' within social media culture (van Dijck, Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 63).

Figure 26. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

The engagement in feminism and gender discourse has been evident since Wollen first founded her Instagram account. This image (Figure 27) shows a female symbol tattoo on her arm and is demonstrating the connection between her ideas and body as she even got it inked on her skin. Following this, in the next example (Figure 28), it is more than clear what the artist means, as the text states ‘women activism’ and the caption suggests that it is the topic of her studies: ‘library day’. A review of all of Wollen’s posts reveals that she seeks to portray a female world, and the notion of 'girl power' is evident. Moreover, the symbols, objects and colors used in her images

mediate a 'girly feeling'. Wollen posts a big number of pictures of cats (Figure 29), flowers (Figure 30), red or pink color (Figure 31) and female anime heroines (Figure 32). These examples portray the life and interests of a stereotypical girl that is supposedly going through her teenage phase. These self-representation techniques reveal how Wollen's identity is constructed online by 'mediating everyday experiences' on Instagram (van Dijck, Digital photography: communication, identity, memory 60).

In this Instagram project, the representation of the body is strongly connected to art historical paintings. For instance, one image (Figure 33) that she posted on 15 November 2015 brought 1,000 new followers overnight and received 4463 likes (as of 22 June, 2017) (Tongco). Wollen posted a picture of an 1890s painting portraying a naked woman looking at herself in the mirror. In the caption, she considered that in today’s world, smartphones facilitate a similar form of self-admiration: ‘If you look at paintings of girls and replace each mirror with an iPhone in your head, you will realize that nothing has ever been different’. According to Marwick 'online profiles allow people to use the language of media to express themselves to others' (A Companion to New Media Dynamics 6). This demonstrates her point of view that the female body has been objectified throughout art history and supports the idea of female narcissism.

Figure 33. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Wollen's manipulation of the image of her body in regards to the bodies portrayed in the paintings illustrates Berger's idea that photography changed the paintings before it was invented. In this and other similar examples, the artist 'places' herself in a painting (or next to it), and in many cases, she tries to re-enact existing paintings. In this example (Figure 34), Wollen is lying naked and holding a picture of a painting in a way so it would cover her private parts. Within this or similar content, she reinforces a discussion on how the female body is objectified not only by mass-media, but throughout art history. According to Wollen, women’s history has not received as much attention as the history of men, and we can only track women over time by means of paintings, sculpture, and myth. However, in these paintings, women are usually portrayed as sad and as objects of admiration. By incorporating her selfies and montages within famous art pieces, Wollen herself objectifies the female body and states very particular worldviews. In art historical terms, Wollen’s work is a post-modern collage of different references and techniques about the representation of the female body in both an art historical and contemporary context.

Wollen’s relationship with the arts and her interest in paintings is visible throughout her entire feed. In this particular example (Figure 35), the artist positions herself in a famous historical art piece by Sandro Botticelli portraying the nude goddess Venus. Wollen poses only in her underwear, and the caption says ‘sexting’, suggesting how modern girls communicate with boys. It seems that she brings these old paintings to life by positioning them in a new media discourse on digital technology and the presentation of the female body online. She mostly uses paintings that picture red-headed women (Wollen herself is a redhead) to make an obvious comparison between the painting and herself (Figure 36). Additionally, the art historical content has a close link to her own experience in modern society. The history of art is a significant element in her project, as it has contributed to female beauty standards by objectifying women in the paintings long before mass-media. This is a crucial issue she addresses with her work.

Figure 35. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 36. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

In many paintings that Wollen shares and this particular one (Figure 37), the woman is reflecting on her beauty while looking in the mirror and lying in her bed naked. Wollen poses in the exact same position in her bed, although the mirror is replaced by the computer. The artist imitates this painting by adopting the same emotionless expression, but she does so via a digital camera installed in her computer. This example suggests that female habits and representations have not changed significantly and that only the techniques have shifted, as they perform using technology. Given this, Wollen merges ideas of identity from art-historical and digital perspectives and '[participates] in the construction and development of these alternative economies and cultures' (Lillemose 131). According to Wollen, ‘the personal is political’, and feminists do not have to be loud, happy, rich, and self- loving. Instead, a sad type of feminism can be practised by every girl.

Figure 37. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Conclusively, through the act of appropriating these art historical and iconic paintings in Wollen's own practice, she is also critically questioning them. For her this appropriation works in two ways: she is questioning the role of female bodies in art history and engaging with the contemporary idea of femininity through manipulation or her artistic implementation to these canonical paintings. Overall, what makes the 'Sad Girl Theory' internet series feel authentic is how the artist responds to existing stereotypes about gender, politics, and art history by putting herself in seemingly uncomfortable positions linked to her real-life experiences. This creates a self-representation that seems not 'filtered out' and 'selective' (Harcourt 231). As the artist shares her body and mind with an audience of 25,000 followers, her expressive authenticity is undeniable. Wollen does not seek to attack existing norms by engaging in typical feminist actions or using a fictitious persona, as other artists have done. In contrast, by constructing 'credibility through the use of convincing props' Wollen visually illustrates her argument and leaves spectators reflecting on what they just saw (Braso 31).

CONCLUSION

The aim of this study was to investigate the concept of authenticity in the arts and social media discourse. Consequently, this paper examined how the notion of authenticity is revealed through users’ self-representation on Instagram and questioned by conceptual artists. The analysis showed that individuals tend to document their personal experience via digital photography and then present online what results in controlled self-representation. As the Instagram interface provides features and tools that allow users to visually portray their lifestyles, it has become simple to create a significant online presence. Such online presence can subsequently be moderated and redirected by drawing on existing digital social trends, cultural memory, fictitious stories and gender roles.

The analysis of conceptual art authors revealed that within the dematerialisation of the art object spectator plays a key role in the creative act. Participation on the part of spectators is essential, as they become an object of investigation and bring artwork to life by interpreting it. Thus, the relationship between artist and spectator develops to a more personal level as both are interpreting each other's ideas what creates a novel and authentic means of experiencing the artwork.

Furthermore, the concept of authenticity in the arts discourse is usually understood as an opposite to a fake. In the twentieth century due to the notion of reproduction, the artwork became more ubiquitous in particular with the invention of photography. More especially, in the case of conceptual art, reproduction became more common creating a strong bond between human and technology. Nowadays, social network websites are one of the main tools for human interaction and that is why conceptual artists started to use social media for artistic purposes. This eliminates the institutional museum experience and reduces the hierarchy between 83

the artist and the spectator. To this end, it was demonstrated how through self- representation techniques media artists use Instagram for experimenting with the audience, as it is a platform where authenticity plays a key role in the construction of online identity.

One key component of the studied artists’ online performances pertained to audience engagement and activation. The performances were a success in case of user feedback. The accounts seemed more authentic due to the social categories that are deeply embedded within social media in general. These artists addressed Instagram users by mimicking those typical roles immersing themselves into real- life narratives, encouraging a diverse range of reactions and interpretations.

Ulman's experimentation with the Instagram audience reveals troubling shift in the ways contemporary society interacts and understands themselves - as their social media account. Her performance on Instagram demonstrates that users’ perception of authenticity can be easily biased online especially when they show a strong or even reinforced connection with real-life stories. An interview with Kassier and investigation of his Instagram image series showed that there is an identity gap between online and offline personas. According to the artist, both strongly influence each other, even though his online identity is constructed based on male businessman stereotypes, which is the opposite of his real-life artist self. The third case study, Wollen's work raises an interesting point concerning the impact of digital culture on art history and vice versa. Her 'Sad Girl Theory' series demonstrate that an artist may use Instagram as a personal and artistic expression platform by immersing into social media culture. Wollen's online self-representation also contributes to the construction of her artist self.

Overall, all of the selected artists criticize how contemporary society perceives information presented online and categorize themselves within general gender and class standards. The notion of genuine representation becomes even more complex when discussing the authenticity of photography in the context of digital technology. Online society then becomes a perverse reflection of contemporary culture, rather than a representation of it. scholars and artists have only begun to investigate and experiment with the 'new' social media culture around Instagram. Using the social media to criticize the impact of such platforms like Instagram on contemporary society is rather revolutionary, as the criticism may be experienced first-hand.

In this study, it was demonstrated how the digital content shared online becomes a distorted representation as the pictures are staged, modified and edited. This distorted reality creates a self-representation that tends closer to fiction, which is a considerably problematic development of the contemporary society. The falsified identity or fictitious stories online has an influence on how a person understands and defines him or herself offline as well. That creates a strong relationship between human and technology that is hardly separable. The selected artists and their projects demonstrate how the idea about online and offline identities is always shifting, as well as how closely the two selves influence each other.

However, it also appears that authentic self-representation is hardly possible on Instagram. In retrospect, the growing complexity of new media technology has made it increasingly simple to create content that is not authentic. In addition, Instagram is a stage for self-performing authenticity by telling visual stories, while keeping pace with digital trends in contemporary online culture.

To this end, the contribution of this study to the existing literature is the analysis of digital self-representation from the perspective of conceptual artists. Similarly to an

art piece, online identity is also dependent on external authentic information such as name, date, location and so forth. That is why the online user account becomes a big part of real-life and may serve as a diary or even a digital proof of identity.

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Figure 2. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Figure 3. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Figure 4. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Figure 5. Ulman, Amalia. Screenshot. 25 June 2017. .

Figure 6. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 7. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 8. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 9. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 10. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 11. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 12. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

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Figure 13. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

Figure 14. Kassier, Andy. Screenshot. 28 May 2017. .

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Figure 15. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 16. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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Figure 17. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 18. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 19. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

Figure 20. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 21. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

Figure 22. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 23. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

Figure 24. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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Figure 25. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 26. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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Figure 27. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 28. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 29. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

Figure 30. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 31. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

Figure 32. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 24 June 2017.

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Figure 33. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 34. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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Figure 35. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

Figure 36. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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Figure 37. Wollen, Audrey. Screenshot. 28 May 2017.

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APPENDIX

Kassier, Andy. Skype interview, 28 April 2017

Was it at first your personal account? If yes when did you decide to use it for your project?

In the beginning it was definitely just my private account. The idea was to reflect the gap between my real person and the online persona. So the question that rises is how easy it is to set up a fake person? Or how easy it is to get in the role of fake persona? It is basically just the perspective you have - if this was my real life. I visited my uncle in Switzerland, just a really basic thing, but it works on social media in a way to show off, create that kind of persona. It is hard to give a specific answer. I think it was a private account in the beginning, and still is a private account, but there was always the intention to show a life that is different to my real life. 3 years later it became the main focus and intention of the culture surrounding this platform. While in the beginning Instagram was really about capturing the moments but now it is just showing how fancy your lifestyle is and making other people jealous. It is not about just showing your life moments but your best trips and etc.

I am not posting a lot, 1 picture per week or even less. It always depends where I am, if I am in a fancy location or location that makes sense I will definitely use this to post. For example, sometimes I am sneaking into a luxurious hotel and taking a picture. How much my real persona has influenced my fake persona? How big or small is the gap between them? The answer is that it is always shifting but it is influenced. You will never see me in the t-shirt when I am in public. This way it is easier for me to play this role. For example, if I am my real person on the streets I still look like the online persona I portray. There are even

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parts of my clothing which are always repeating. In this way, I am not consuming as I always wear the same.

Why would Instagram platform be a priority for your performance?

The basic answer for this is - photography. I started as a photographer so it is really natural for me to work with photography. It is easy for me to use it. I can realize my ideas and Instagram in this case just got bigger and bigger. I do not think there is really an alternative. The shift that I am interested in is that Instagram actually became what I thought it will become. At first it was just about snapping your real life, about moments and now it is more about staging stuff. And this is my thesis since the beginning.

Have you noticed any user shifts on your profile, or particular comments concerning certain posts with certain hashtags?

Yes of course. I have some pictures related to business motivational picture format. There was a really funny one "Freedom is something you will achieve with money". Some of these success and motivation pictures get responses from 'business guys' and they very much agree with it and are taking this seriously. They fit into my idea of the 'business guys' that love themself. However, my performance is not as persistent as Amalia's Ulman's, because I am actually showing that this is performance. It is clear that I am an artist. Maybe I will change it at some point. So it is a weird mixture of posts but there are definitely different responses. Most of the people follow me because they know I am an artist, though I am not this big yet. However there are also some businessmen following me [the ones that Andy tries to mock] so this is the interesting part as well as in Amalia's work her performance gets acceptance.

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In your opinion, does authentic self-presentation on Instagram exist?

Not anymore. It existed maybe in the beginning of Instagram. Authentic is a really difficult word. What is authentic? Does authentic mean that you are allowed to get into the role or see yourself in a role? Then to be authentic is really difficult. Because the point is whether how do you see yourself or how others see you. Do you take pictures how you see yourself or do you take pictures how others see you? So is it more authentic if others do pictures of you or you do pictures of you? It is a subjective you but probably more objective in some point when others see you. I am just thinking about it now. I am the opposite of authenticity probably as I am questioning it at some point. Authentic self-presentation online does not existing anymore. There were moments in the beginning of these platforms. For example, when you first use Instagram and accidentally post a picture of you because you do not know how to use it.

From your perspective, would you say that the culture of Instagram pushes people to act in a certain way, post certain content?

It is more the social culture that surrounds it but definitely yes. I think the point is that society is pushing people in directions. Power structures are existing. Women have to be reflected about their beauty so they take selfies. If men take selfies it is not about beauty it is about showing off. Instagram looks like advertising even more and more. Always puts people in roles. So the classic gender roles on Instagram exist. We can even talk how Instagram as a platform is changing and influencing the human bodies.

How would you describe the connection between 'the self' on Instagram and 'the self' in real life?

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The connection is the persona on Instagram is just trying to make people jealous. It is like your website, you are advertising yourself. It does not matter what you show: your work, your fashion or other stuff. It can also be that you do not post about your work or hobbies but only about your private life. It will always look better on Instagram. So it will always be an exaggeration of reality and advertisement of you that is probably intended for a small follower group. There are people that go to parties every weekend and post content related to their fun free time, however, they do not post that the whole week they work at a simple cafe, so they could go to the party.

Would you say that Instagram helps to create value to your work?

Instagram is part of my work so yes. If I would not use Instagram as a performance platform it would still give value in a way to post my installations or exhibition pictures. So I could only use it to promote my art but it would be less interesting and not as funny. It is always more interesting to push boundaries. Intentionally, I did not have a master plan that I would use Instagram for this or that. I try to experiment and it may change everyday. There are a few points that have to be in the picture that I post - it has to be fun and fit into the role. In this way, it makes easier for the viewer to access it. Amalia's pictures are not that funny, at some point they are, but it is funny because of the context.

When making pictures I do all the art direction: put the camera where I want, direct the people and they just have to push the button. This way it is faster. My pictures are a documentation of the performance.

What do you think about buying followers or likes on Instagram?

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I was thinking about it but not anymore, it does not feel necessary. I could give a lot of funny answers to this, for example: hard work pays off. So you do not need to buy followers - it is too fake. At the moment, how it is going I could estimate to attract 10k followers by the end of the year depends on my interviews. But I am more focused going out in real life: doing interviews, exhibitions and that will keep the followers coming. In the end, it is not about this. Well the number of followers suggests something, adds value even if it is not there. It is the same in real life, if you have 1000 friends but they are all unemployed they will not help you but if you have 2 friends that work in big agencies they would probably help you get a job. I think it would not make sense if I had 10k followers but 50 likes on pictures but now engagement looks better when I have around 2600 followers and 400 likes on my pictures.

All of your followers understand your concept or some reach out because they think that is your true lifestyle?

Yes. In the beginning there was someone who commented on the picture of me showing money. The comment was in German but I will translate it - you are so ugly just because you get money from your dad. The other thing was, I am doing Instagram stories since it came out, and also Snapchat, so a guy from Vienna, a real estate agent was checking my stories so he saw that I am flying economy class and commented: my god why do you do this, hanging out with these poor people. This is really funny. And life is about having fun.

Did Instagram as a platform contributed to your success as an artist?

Success in the case of getting people to know about me - yes, success in the art market - no. It definitely helps to spread the word.

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