Museums redesign exhibitions for the TikTok and Instagram era

Art museums are adapting exhibitions to social media, with displays designed to encourage visitors to take and share photos, ERR reported.

At Poco, a modern art museum in Tallinn, staff rearrange exhibitions several times a year. Smaller changes are made three or four times annually, said owner Linnar Viik. The museum tracks visitor routes and social media posts, moving works that have received less attention to more prominent positions.

The average visitor spends 45 minutes at Poco, about the length of an episode of a Netflix series. Before the Covid pandemic, visitors spent an average of 20 to 25 seconds looking at a work of art, Viik said. That has since fallen to about 10 to 15 seconds.

Viik said it is important to give visitors reasons to share their experience online. Poco has five or six spots that are especially popular for photos. Tens of thousands of social media pictures have been taken from the same angle of Edward von Lõngus’s “Dance of Death.” Students working on new exhibitions are also tasked with making them easy to share online.

Exhibition curator Karl Markus Mäkivi said a well-known artist or an artwork’s distinctive message can prompt people to take pictures. Lighting and the arrangement of works can also guide visitors.

State museums place less emphasis on social media, instead encouraging visitors to spend more time with art. At the Adamson-Eric Museum, curator Karin Vicente said adults can use a worksheet to choose a work that interests them and look closely at details they might otherwise miss.

Vicente said visitors do not need a scholarly approach to enjoy art. They can take their time and focus on what they like, rather than trying to see everything in the museum quickly.