Instagram as an exhibition space : reflections on digital remediation in the time of COVID-19

This paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on a planned physical exhibition—Prize Books and Politics: Rethinking Working-Class Life in Edwardian Britain—and the experience of transforming it into a digital exhibition through the platform of Instagram. Using feedback from visitors in the form of likes, comments and surveys, I reflect on the exhibition in terms of its scope, content, visitor experience and overall success. I also outline the various potentials, constraints and opportunities of Instagram as an exhibition space and put forward recommendations on how it can be used to best advantage not as a replacement for physical exhibitions, but rather as a complement that can attract new audiences, capture real-time feedback and, thus, add multiple voices and stories to museum objects.Funding agency:UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) ES/T009012/1