Communications Assistant Ellie Blanchette blogs on what happens when you invite a talented group of Instagrammers to photograph an empty Science Museum.
From pictures of pugs dressed as dinosaurs, to beautiful, jealousy-inducing shots of far-flung travel destinations, Instagram provides a brilliant platform for creating and discovering the images and lives of people from all over the world. It is also a great way for people to meet offline, as the popularity of ‘Instameets’ (events specifically for those who use Instagram to meet and take pictures), prove.
Over the past year or so, museums and galleries from around the world have been opening their doors outside of opening hours to Instgrammers, and the results have been stunning. Known as #emptymuseum, these events were pioneered by Instagrammers themselves.
We too have opened our doors early.
The Instragrammers we invited to the Museum saw our current Media Space exhibition, Revelations: Experiments in Photography and were given a tour of some of the art in our collection, from Anthony Gormley’s Iron Baby, to Thomas Heatherwick’s Material’s House (click here for more art to explore on your visit).
Each person took on the challenge of Instagramming the galleries and objects on display differently, finding new perspectives of objects, old staircases or other features which can go unnoticed during our busy opening hours. The Instagrammers have shared all their photographs so far here.
You can follow the Science Museum on Instagram here. To join a future #EmptyScienceMuseum tour, please email marketing@sciencemuseum.org.uk with why you would like to join a tour and a little information about yourself.