Selfie museum explained

A "selfie museum" or "Instagram museum" is a type of art gallery or installation designed to provide a setting for visitors to pose in photographs to be posted on social media sites such as Instagram. Typical features of exhibits in a selfie museum include colorful backdrops, oversize props, and optical illusions such as anamorphosis.

29Rooms, a three-day immersive art installation created by Refinery29 in 2015 in New York City, has been cited as the first example of this type of facility.^{[1] [2]} The Museum of Ice Cream, opened in 2016, is also credited as a major catalyst of selfie museums.^{[3] [4] [5]} By 2019, there were reportedly dozens of selfie museums across the United States.^[6] They faced challenges in 2020 when most were forced to close temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[7] [8]}

Some predecessors to this trend from the contemporary art world have been identified, such as Rain Room, Urban Light, and the mirrored rooms of Yayoi Kusama.^{[9] [10]} The large-scale experimental artworks exhibited at the Burning Man festival have also been cited as an influence, as well as the artist collective Meow Wolf.^[11]

Some commentators have criticized the use of the word "museum" to describe these establishments.^{[12] [13]} Unlike traditional museums, which are often non-profit organizations with an educational mission, selfie museums are almost always for-profit businesses, earning money through admission fees and, in some cases, corporate sponsorships.^{[14] [15]} Museum of Ice Cream founder Maryellis Bunn has expressed regret over using the word, and coined the term "experium" (a portmanteau of "experience" and "museum") to describe such businesses.^[16]

Selfie museums are an example of experiential commerce. Many are pop-up exhibitions, opening for only a few months in a particular location, while others are permanent.^{[17] [18]}

Notable examples

• Color Factory
• Dessert Museum
• Museum of Ice Cream
• Museum of Pizza

Further reading

• News: The ball pit will take some breaking in, and other lessons from the Instagram experience decade. Vanity Fair. Kenzie Bryant. December 20, 2019.
• There’s a Museum for That? Defining New Pop-Up Experiential Exhibition Spaces. University of Washington. Caleb A. Stockham. 2019. M.A..
• On Display: The Strategy of "Flattening" in The Selfie Museum and its Relevance for Architecture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nitzan Zilberman. June 2019. M.S..

Notes and References

1. News: Exploring the effects of social media on art and culture, one selfie at a time. CNN. Aileen Kwun. January 11, 2018. 2020-10-31.
2. News: 8 Instagram-ready art attractions that prove the Museum of Ice Cream was just the beginning. ArtNet. Caroline Goldstein. April 25, 2018. 2020-10-31.
3. News: The museums of Instagram. The New Yorker. Sophie Haigney. September 16, 2018. 2020-09-02.
4. News: Lights, cameras, action: The Museum of Selfies was another original example of the Selfie Museum as it opened first as a pop-up in 2017. It was the first Museum to use the term "Museum of Selfies". The Museum of Selfies was first opened in Glendale, California for 3 months which then turned into a permanent location in Hollywood, California. After the closures of March 2020, the Museum of Selfies was closed in the Hollywood location and opened back up the next year in Las Vegas, Nevada.The rise of the Instagram-friendly museum. The Daily Beast. Sam Eichner. August 27, 2018. 2020-09-02.
5. News: The rise and impact of the 'Instagram museum'. Art Critique. Katherine Keener. January 4, 2019. 2020-09-02.
6. News: Selfie museums are popping up across the country. WTXL-TV. Annie Taylor. September 4, 2019. 2020-09-02.
7. News: There's not much left to like about Instagram-friendly 'experiences'. Vice. Katie Way. August 7, 2020. 2020-09-02.
8. News: Instagram pop-up experiences lay off employees as the business tanks. The Verge. Ashley Carman. April 1, 2020. 2020-09-02.
9. News: An Instagram-baiting museum in Indonesia is ripping off Chris Burden and Yayoi Kusama. Artnet News. Sarah Cascone. March 26, 2018. 2020-09-02.
10. News: Selfie factories: The rise of the made-for-Instagram museum. Wired. Arielle Pardes. September 27, 2017. 2020-09-02.
11. News: 'Big Fun Art' spreads to Phoenix. Bloomberg CityLab. Ben Ikenson. December 4, 2018. 2020-10-31.
12. News: Pop-up 'museums' are Instagram fans' favorite place to pose. Wall Street Journal. Lara Korte. July 5, 2018. 2020-09-02.
13. News: From Yayoi Kusama to the Museum of Ice Cream, 2017 was the year of the art selfie. W. Marissa G. Muller. December 26, 2017. 2020-09-02.
14. News: Why do Instagram playgrounds keep calling themselves museums?. Bloomberg CityLab. Karen Loew. October 16, 2019. 2020-09-02.
15. News: Fake food museums are our greatest monuments to the brand hellscape of 2018. Eater. Erin DeJesus. December 21, 2018. 2020-09-02.
16. News: Everything you think you know about the Museum of Ice Cream is wrong: Interview with CEO. Observer. Sissi Cao. October 9, 2019. 2020-09-02.
17. News: The existential void of the pop-up 'experience'. The New York Times. Amanda Hess. September 26, 2018. 2020-09-02.
18. News: Wonderspaces isn't another pop-up "experience." That's a good thing. Philadelphia. Caroline Cunningham. January 29, 2020. 2020-09-02.