Instagram and art gallery visitors: Aesthetic experience, space, sharing and implications for educators

Instagram is one of the world’s most popular social media applications. For art galleries it is an important tool for promotion, marketing, interaction, participation and the enhancing of the visitor experience. For arts educators it is an opportunity to broaden the participation of people wanting to learn through art, and to consider how Instagram may contribute to an art gallery based learning program. There is limited research about the use of Instagram by visitors to an art gallery and the role it plays in their experience. This article is drawn from a research study into the use of Instagram by visitors to the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (14 October 2017 – 4 February 2018). The research project, which was informed by spatial theory, found that the use of Instagram at the gallery engaged visitors in a manner that transcended the physical space and extended their aesthetic experience. This finding is significant for arts educators seeking to engage students through social media during visits to art exhibitions.