Stop 1

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Instagram serves as a container for street art, not only storing the images posted but also literally shaping and “containing” parts of the art within a frame. The person taking a photo of street art for Instagram will encounter a number of opportunities to transform the piece into something of their own, beginning with the way in which they take the photograph (what angle, how close or far, what they include in the frame, etc.) to the number of variations that photo can take when being uploaded to Instagram. Instagram has a particular format and a number of editing options which together transforms the original content into a new creation when put through the process of being uploaded. For example, Instagram uses a square shape which reformats the original photo’s shape to fit its specific dimensions. One may opt to use applications such as Whitagram to evade such size restrictions, which also can be considered a reformatting of the original in itself. This is furthered by editing that can be done to the photos, such as filters, cropping, tilting, and other Instagram features including adding a caption, geotag or using hashtags which can serve to further their own ideas surrounding the piece. This photo disorients the viewer as we are unsure of the scale of the image or what surface it is on. This user also uses a caption, hashtags and a geotag which add meaning to the image.

TO GET TO STOP 2
where we will continue this discussion of how Instagram is a container that shapes its content, click on the following hashtag, click on the photo uploaded by us, and follow your next set of directions #streetartstop2