The Moco Museum (Modern Contemporary Museum) is a museum dedicated to exhibiting modern and contemporary art, founded in 2016 with the mission of making art accessible to the public. It currently has locations in Amsterdam and Barcelona and is due to open in Marble Arch, London, this September. The Art Newspaper reported that ‘Each space [in the museum] targets in particular 18-35 year olds seeking art experiences and Instagram opportunities.’
The idea of an Instagram or social media-friendly museum is anything but innovative. The Museum of Icecream established in 2016 for instance is a prime example of striking colour palettes, mystical interior designs and dedicated Instagram spots for visitors to photograph. Since Moco Amsterdan’s launch in 2016, we have also seen successful installations such as the digital immersive art experience created by the Dutch artist Studio Irma, who created highly interactive installations designed to be photographed by visitors. Further works such as Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ have certainly proved themselves as a prime example of these immersive, social media friendly, and mesmerising experiences that stimulate all parts of visitors’ sensory experiences.
The question lies, however, in the fact that the power of visually striking art pieces is integral in the age of social media, drastically expanding its reach to those who may not normally be seen as target audiences. This allows more opportunities for engagement from both the Artist and the social media users. However does this actually impel artists to create more conceptually rich art, or does social media only dilute the message and promote visually capitating pieces? Furthermore, what goes beyond the ‘like’?
One perspective to argue in favour of such an approach is the ability to expand the reach of certain ideas or social commentary through visual impact. This could come in several forms. Firstly, this could extend the reach and sparkle discussions, with Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ being an exemplary work. Whether you interpret the work as the heart-shaped balloon flying towards or away from the little girl, it invites speculations on its underlying meanings requiring minimal intellectual engagement, meaning that welcomes discussions from those of all walks of life, maximising its reach, which aligns with the nature of the form of the work being stencil
murals scattered around London. As Banksy utilised the work in variants to support various social campaigns, the work flexibility serves as even a structure for dialogue. On the other hand, the French artist JR’s ‘Inside Out’ project self proclaims to be the ‘Largest Global Participatory Art Project’. With the help of social media platforms, this project saw more than 500,000 participants from more than 152 countries and territories, reaching all continents. As the tagline goes ‘Together, we can turn the world inside out’, more than 2,500 actions were created revolving around the topics of diversity, community, feminism, racism, and much more. Thus, we can see the power of ‘call to action’ generated by these works and especially how it invites discussions and lowers the barriers to participation.
However, to critically engage with social issues is not just about creating as much noise as possible and measuring your intervention with view counts and like counts, it requires a lot more effort than that. The challenge is, if we do not have a precise message to engage with like the Banky or JR works, we will start facing barriers even if we just take one step forward and question for example, what are we actually engaging with?
JR’s ‘Inside Out’ project is a perfect example of socially engaged practice, as defined by the TATE as ‘any artform which involves people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction.’ As the TATE further suggests, ‘2015’s winners of the Turner Prize, Assemble, are a perfect example of artists using socially engaged practice because they collaborate with residents to improve their local area.’
What exactly needs to be done to ‘improve the local area’? What improvements are made for who? By whom?
In an event held by The Social Canvas Projects in January 2024, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei noticed that ‘The internet has been essential. It liberated human expression.’ As Dr Michelle Darlington and Dr Beatriz Acevedo discussed in the University of Cambridge’s Social Innovation Blog, ‘this leaves the question, what do you want to express? Although he upheld the importance of the Internet as an open forum, the discussion explored issues regarding the ownership structures of social media platforms and the role of AI in information-seeking and creative expression.’
For instance, Ai Weiwei’s 2010 installation Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds) featured one hundred million individually hand-crafted porcelain sunflowers which opened up wide possibilities for discussion. The Sunflower Seeds were symbolic of the Chinese Communist Party and could be interpreted from the angle of Freedom, loss of individuality, optimism in difficulty and more. To critically engage with this piece of work, one must process in depth contextual knowledge of for instance the history of the Chinese Communist Party and its connection with the Sunflower Seeds. However, being a piece of visually striking work which covered the entirety of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall up to 10 centimetres high, social media platforms do not necessarily facilitate constructive and informative speculations. Deeper engagement with the work then, would not be possible.

There is a clear opportunity for social media-friendly museums like MOCO to act as moderators who could facilitate meaningful and in-depth engagements on social media platforms looking into the future.
Please keep an eye out for a full review of MOCO London upon its opening!