Photograph to understand. Instagram reports from cultural institutions

Abstract

With the popularization of Social Media, the custom of posting photographic reports of cultural events on the Internet and marking them with thematic hashtags (#) has become widespread. For cultural institutions Instagram "stories" should pay special attention as potential new forms of reviews, „hot” reports, platforms for discussion about art, recommendations of works, and even their reinterpretations. The aim of the article was to examine the subject matter and aesthetics of the collections of photographs, created in Instagram, by tagging and to assess their value for the monitoring and promotion of the culture. Collections of "tagged" photographs can be a carrier of feedback about cultural products, but the specific aesthetics and language of social media may result in underestimation of such materials. The second aim of the study was to try to identify the included symbols in this photography and to create interpretation keys, with use of which there were undertaken further considerations about „social” experiencing of culture and  functional side of this phenomenon. Four channels created by the Instagram community, by marking photos with „cultural hashtags” were analyzed. A quantitative analysis of the most frequently disclosed threads was performed and their description was prepared along with an attempt to interpret the symbolism used. The result was a list of the most popular aesthetic forms used in Instagram photography, also a method of reading it and directions for their secondary use in monitoring, promotion and cultural education were proposed.