Illusions Conveyed Through Social Media

Illusions Conveyed Through Social Media

            The Museum of Illusions attracts its audience in ways we probably never deemed possible or had considered. For instance, the museum requires that one uses their phone to connect to social apps to enable them to understand how to occupy or operate certain exhibits. Specifically, this is because the museum also entails people to align themselves in certain angles or sections of a room that only a picture can demonstrate the illusion being illustrated. The illusion which is not noticeable in person is brought to life from a snap of a picture. This causes the museum to earn a reputation that associates with the idea of being magical after these images are posted on social media platforms. These images that are broadcasted on social media appeal to viewers because of the way the photo appears to be elucidating an impossible configuration or formation of an individual in a room. Due to social media allowing people to reference their location of their photos, it enables these images to go viral which attracts a larger audience to visit the museum. Likewise, these images also create a version of the museum that does not quite live up to the expectations we have created in our head of what it looks like. For instance, the museum is actually small and is consists of only two floors. Exhibits such as the “Rotated room” is much smaller in person than what it appears to be in the photographs that are trending on social media platforms such as Instagram.

            Social media platforms such as Instagram serves as a tour guide when people visit the museum. After people have seen the viral photographs of specific exhibits that becomes the exhibit they look for when they get to the museum. Although, each exhibit provides a brief illustration or instruction on how the exhibit is designed to work people still rely on Instagram to guide them through it. Instagram has allowed the Museum of Illusion to serve as a public memory because its significance is understood immediately. People have an understanding of what to expect prior to their arrival of the museum. Likewise, the photos serve as a way of further remembering the museum which allows for this memory to be commemorated. For instance, Instagram demonstrates the collective memory of the museum because of the likeliness of individuals to memorialize it through mimicking similar or the exact poses as other individuals have made and posted. Therefore, Instagram acts as a tool that allows for every individual to share the same memories of the museum. Also, the narration that Instagram illuminates acts as a tool that allows one to navigate the museum without the help of an employee. This memorial is easy to preserve because of its necessity to interact with the exhibits as well as taking photos that preserve this space. For as long as Instagram remains a social app and allows for users to search places through hashtags or locations the museum will continue to be celebrated. In turn these images being stored away on our phone also serves as a way to memorialize the museum whether we decide to publicly share these images or not.

            The museum also calls attention to the fact that illusions can be demonstrated in various different ways. Which is exactly what Edward S. Casey is suggesting in his text “Public Memory in Place and Time”. For instance, he states “I am signaling the effects of what is a truly constituent feature of pubic memory, namely, its formation through ongoing interchange of ideas and thoughts, opinions and beliefs. It is just because public memory is also subject to revision or, for that matter, resumption” (P. 30). Precisely, Casey indicates that public memory is not restrained under one sole interpretation or view. Instead, a public memory should have multiple out looks and perceptions. Likewise, Instagram portrays different illusions within the museum that are demonstrated in the same exhibit. This shows that the way we see other individuals aligned or angled in certain rooms or the ways in which they occupy certain exhibits are precisely just an example of how the museum can be memorialized. However, there are certain rooms within the museum that are open to other ways in which one can create an illusion. This reveals that although Instagram is a great tool that provides examples of how certain spaces should be occupied within the museum it also keeps our minds confined to the illusions demonstrated. Meaning while we are at the museum we do not take the time out to create our own illusion because we are focused on creating a replica of the illusion we have seen depicted through images on Instagram. Therefore, collective memory becomes a chaos and prevents the museum from establishing multiple identities. If everyone is having the same experience of the museum, it diminishes the multiple ways in which the museum can be memorized. Moreover, the museum then forth lacks a multitude of different interpretations that individuals may have about it. This uncovers how sometimes public and social memory can interfere with our individual memory. For instance, we go to the museum with a preconceived idea of how to occupy certain rooms because we have seen how it was used on Instagram. Therefore, by trying to model that exact image we are not attaining the learning experience of trying to figure it out. The museum which is supposed to be a place of memorialization of all the different exhibits becomes held to one specific memory which is based on the images Instagram. We become adamant about how certain spaces should be used that we lose out on trying to understand how certain spaces are to be memorialized. Hence the reason why it takes approximately an hour to an hour and a half to view every exhibit in the museum. Had people attempted to create their own illusions within the allotted rooms, it would probably take more time to experience every exhibit in the museum.

            The museum is preserved through individual’s use of specific rooms that allow one to create some sort of illusion through the use of taking a photo. The museum is capable of existing online just as much as it exists in reality. The only difference is, is that in reality we are able to decode the illusion which redefines the expectation of what we assumed for it to have looked like in person. However, the con about the images being taken is that it is the same type of images being captured with different individuals within these photos. Therefore, this memorialization becomes very one sided and individuals fail to make their own use of specific exhibits. Instagram serving as this epic tool where individuals post their experience at the museum all nearly look the same. Essentially Instagram has disconnected the way in which individuals should connect with one another to brainstorm how the exhibit is to be facilitated. There has been a divide between experiencing the museum through Instagram and reality. For instance, individuals rely on Instagram to distinguish how they are supposed to experience the museum rather than attempting to figure out how certain exhibits are to be facilitated or what function they serve. Therefore, there is no public narrative that is capable of being preserved in this instance. If people are just mimicking the photo’s other individuals post on Instagram it diminishes the relevance and places that memory at risk of being forgotten. Nonetheless, Casey states “public memory occurs only when people meet and interact in a single scene of interaction” (p.32). If there is minimal interaction, then there is no significant public memory being formed. Whereas, the only interaction that individuals are creating during their time at the museum is through Instagram. When individuals take out their phone to search images through tags and locations of the museum, that becomes the only form of interaction that exist. However, the interaction that serves severe purpose is interaction with the individual that you went to the museum with.  Although, families and friends are coming together to create a memory, they still refrain from creating their own personal experiences. These experiences become shared due to the constant mimicking of other individual’s photos on Instagram. Altogether, the museum becomes an example of the overlap between collective and public memory.

            I am in no position to critique those who have mimicked the photos other individuals have illustrated on Instagram. Simply, because I too have done the same thing. Although it is fairly interesting and entertaining to use Instagram as a tool to guide you through the museum it takes away interacting with your friends or family. I believe that if my friend and I had taken the time out to actually figure out how certain spaces should have been occupied we would actually have more fun. For instance, one exhibit my friend and I came across during our visit was this play room. The flooring in this room was unevenly leveled. Meaning one end of the room was lower than the other. However, what my friend and I should have done was stood at both ends of the room. This way when the image was taken, the illusion that would have been depicted was that I appeared to look like a giant in comparison to my friend. However, prior to my visit at the museum I never came across any individuals who had taken a picture in this room. My friend browsed through her Instagram in attempt to find a photograph that illustrated how to use the room. Unfortunately, we had no luck in actually figuring out how this room was to be occupied until weeks after when I came across a photograph of someone who had posted a picture of him and his friends in the same room standing on different ends of it. This reveals that certain exhibits go unexamined or frustrates people if they cannot find an image on Instagram that illustrates how these exhibits should be facilitated. Another thing I found that was frustrating or a little disappointing was that these illusions being formed could not be seen until the picture was taken. When you view these viral images on Instagram you become brainwashed to believe that maybe the individual in the image actually is hanging upside down. However, when you actually are in that same space you realize that the room has already been constructed to appear upside down. Therefore, the only thing left to do is align yourself in a stance that appears as though you are doing a cartwheel. That way when the picture is taken and rotated it appears to look as though you are actually hanging upside down. The museum creates not only a narrative on Instagram, yet a competition as well. A competition on who can make the best use of the exhibits that allow you to create your own illusion. It is also a competition on who’s photos can appear to be the most realistic. The more convincing the image appears, the more of an audience the museum essentially attracts. The museum does not have to do much advertising through social platforms because the individuals that visit the museum do that involuntarily by posting their photographs of their experiences at the museum.

Work Cited 

Phillips, Kendall R. Framing Public Memory. University of Alabama Press, 2004.