Art museums are often depicted鈥攑erhaps unfairly鈥攁s stuffy, lumbering institutions that are slow to embrace change. But now, a growing number of those institutions are jumping headfirst into the new-age world of memes, snapchat, and Instagram.
These cultural institutions say they feel obligated to keep up with a generation that has taken an unprecedented interest in visual digital content.
The pervasiveness of memes is shaping not only the language of social media, but also the norms of language itself: The Oxford English Dictionary recently embraced an emoji, the 鈥渇ace with tears of joy鈥� emoji as the 2015 word of the year.
One institution that has exploited the use of online images to engage young people is the L.A. County Museum of Art, or LACMA. The museum鈥檚 Snapchat profile, run by Social Media Manager Lucy Redoglia, who has aggressively promoted it, has over 180,000 followers. The average user age on Snapchat is 18.
Her strategy is to mash-up trendy pop culture references with images of artwork from the museum鈥檚 collection.
A popular entry included a picture of Auguste Rodin鈥檚 1880 sculpture, 鈥淭he Shade,鈥� with the caption 鈥渁ll the single ladies.鈥�
Last year, the museum posted an image of the Dutch artist Salomon de Bray鈥檚 1652 鈥淢artyrdom of Saint Lawrence,鈥� with the irreverent hashtag #dadbod superimposed across it.
Redoglia has also arranged longer 鈥渟nap stories鈥� that animate every line of entire songs (Queen鈥檚 鈥淏ohemian Rhapsody鈥� was recently featured).
Images on Snapchat are ephemeral, meaning they are only displayed on a user鈥檚 device for 10 seconds before they must be replayed, and the platform does not allow Redoglia to link to any other content. Even so, she says the medium helps translate art into something 鈥渕ore approachable and relatable鈥� for students.
Between 20 and 500 screenshots of each snap are taken by users, many of which are 鈥渟hared鈥� on social media, and some of them have gone viral, Redoglia said. That sharing generates free advertising to one of the institution鈥檚 core demographic audiences.
LACMA is not alone in pushing the boundaries between memes and fine art.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art are other leaders in the push to democratize collections in the name of accessibility鈥攖he Met having found social media success as far away as China鈥檚 Weibo micro-blogging platform. The popular Instagram channel turned fashion label, Fly Art, has also gained a following among millennials by mashing up classic art with contemporary rap lyrics.
But is the breezy treatment of history鈥檚 most significant cultural artifacts cheapening their value?
Redoglia said she tries to 鈥渒eep a balance鈥� between engaging new audiences and respecting the works of art. She points out that her presentation of pieces of art are 鈥渕ore formal鈥� in other social media forums, including Facebook and Twitter.
Redoglia also referred to a recent quote from art historian Bendor Grosvenor in the British newspaper the Independent, who argued in favor of the initiative by saying, 鈥淎rt can鈥檛 be devalued.鈥�
鈥淭he Mona Lisa adorns everything from pizza boxes to toothpaste,鈥� Grosvenor observed, 鈥渁nd still it鈥檚 regarded as one of the greatest paintings of all time.鈥�
