Drawing on Lev Manovich’s essay, “Notes on Instagrammism and mechanisms of contemporary cultural identity (and also photography, design, Kinfolk, k- pop, hashtags, mise-en-scène, and cостояние),” we will discuss Kinfolk, Kinfolk Life, and Kinfolk Videos in relation to Instagram.
After class, write at least 250-words summarizing your reading and the lecture. Feel free to draw on your own experiences using Instagram as a part of your reflection.
The article, Notes on Instagrammism by Lev Manovich, discusses the global influence of Kinfolk and its effect on Instagram aesthetics. Instagram is a photo-sharing application, social media platform, by its built-in filters and photo guides. It displays users’ photography, narrates their ideas and experiences and helps users connect to each other, sharing photographs. Manovich calls this a “network culture.” Aesthetic, the noun, is set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. Aesthetic in this form is subjective. Manovich notes the similarities between Instagram photos and certain categories in stock photography, and is a distinct form. It was first developed in advertising photography in 1930s. It was incorporated into professional graphic designers’ style in 1990s.
Millions of people around the world today use digital tools and platforms to create and share sophisticated cultural artifacts. The article focuses on one such platform: Instagram. It places Instagram image culture within a rich cultural and historical context, including history of photography, cinema, graphic design, and social media, contemporary design trends, music video, and k-pop. At the same it uses Instagram as a window into the identities of first truly global generation connected by common social media platforms, programming languages, and visual aesthetics
Photography today, Instagram platform in particular, gives young people at least as much power in crafting unique identities as music. And in comparison to writing music, Instagram is much easier to use. To establish a visual style, chose particular subjects and compositions for your photos and use Instagram or VSCO app to apply the consistent edits, filters, and presets to all of them. Between different subjects, compositions, color palettes, contrast levels, and other adjustments and filters, the number of distinct styles that can be created is very large.
“Subcultures,” food preferences, and fashion styles give people basic tools to establish and perform their cultural identities. However, digital cameras, network platforms and editing and publishing tools as exemplified by Instagram provide an important mechanism to further refine and “individualize” these base identities.
In this article “Notes on Instagrammism and Contemporary Culture Identity” by Lev Manovich talks about an aesthetic that is linked with the social media platform Instagram. Instagram launched in the year 2010 for the IOS system and then for the android the in the year 2012. Eventually, Facebook bought the company Instagram and presently have five hundred million active daily users. It’s a way for people of all age demographics to take pictures, use filter preferences to their liking, and the end product is shared with other Instagram users. This process is what Manovich called network culture. Just like other technologies it’s always changing and evolving. What Facebook actually does is use the personal information that we provide and sell it to the highest bidder and they also buy data from other companies place ads on our profile in hopes that we will buy the products that are being advertised. Kinfolk is a magazine that shows people how to improve their lifestyles. Manovich realized a link between Instagram and Kinfolk. Instagrammism is a term that Manovich came up with and it’s a combination of media form and particular context. It’s used to define how the pictures we take and post on Instagram have an effect on our lives. Instagrammism constructs of the scenes and images. Old ways of evaluating art aren’t relevant to modern times. Everyone wants to be unique online but once you become part of a sub-group you are become identified as a group. Everyone struggles to find their social identity online. Instagram needs craftsmanship and attention to the smallest detail. Instagrammism is used by many young generations. They are learning how to work that is involved with Instagram and have to ability to share their work with other people.
In the article “Notes on Instagrammism and Contemporary Culture Identity” by Lev Manovich he talks about the evolution of pimples. Instagram itself has evolved over time and has established to what we believe to be an network culture. Instagram first begun in the year of 2010 then around 2012 it was purchased by Facebook. Instagram today has been used to give people exposure towards things with the photo sharing option. With technology constantly evolving and changing it starts to revolutionize and today Instagram is one of those new technologies. Manovich notes how Instagram and photography are just completely different now. People now use Instagram to give themselves a chance to get exposure. Things like music, videos, art and etc are slowly being exposed my Instagram which broadens our knowledge. Instagram has a very rich culture of being able to share not just photos, videos, and other content. Instagram also offers another ability which is to use filters and editing on photos making it more enhanced and creating new art. Instagram has made a blend of evolution in a way creating new photos along with combination of content which leads to subcultures. By sharing and posting pictures on Instagram it has created distinctive styles. Instagram itself has led to a new way to expose ourselves to things of the past and old. The history of back then people can share photos and pictures and the new popular trend of fashion or new technologies can be shared and blown up since mainly everyone uses Instagram.
In the articles Notes on Instagrammism by Lev Manovich, Manovic discusses the connection between Instagram and Kinfolk. Instagram is an app that was created in 2010. It allows users to post pictures with different edits and filters. It allows users to not only display themselves through a series of photos but also to make connections with others who are using the platform. Kinfolk is a lifestyle magazine that is targeted towards young professionals. The aesthetic of kinfolk has had a great effect on Instagram. Instagram has several pages within it which displays the aesthetics of color block images, faded out images, squared photos, and many other lifestyle pages. In Kinfolk, the images are very basic with color orientated details. This is something which is very popular amongst Instagram now. Another word that can be used to describe this style is minimal. Many Instagram pages are now going for the “minimal” look, which is a theme that is very present in the Kinfolk magazine. Minimal refers to very simple and clean-cut images. This can be applied to photos, fashion and even food on Instagram. Instagram as a technology has evolved as so the culture with it. Instagram went from only sharing photos to now also sharing videos and also becoming a job for some users. Instagram allows users to express themselves through technology but also be able to make connections with others using it and this is what Maovich refers to as network culture. Through Instagram users are able to create their own unique identity.
In his article “Notes on Instagrammism and Contemporary Culture Identity” Lev Manovich coined the term instagrammism, which is a combination of media form and particular content. Instagram was launched in October of 2010. What made instagram different from other photo-sharing apps during that time was the fact that instagram had filters and other editing tools available within the app. Soon, the app gathered millions of young users around the world to share their images. Kinfolk is a lifestyle magazine and website that is made to be, in my opinion, directed towards young adults in urban cities in America. This magazine tries to portray and sell an idea about what our life should look like, what we should be wearing, how our house should be decorated, who our friends should be. Kinfolk has created a new aesthetic that has had a great effect on instagram, and its users. The minimal effect, provides pictures to be clear, glossy images, both online and in magazines. Manovich then goes on to talk about identity. He believes that no matter what image of yourself you try to create, especially on social media, you can never truly be ‘unique’. No matter what a person does they will be classified into another group. Even if they exclude themselves from the ‘mainstream’, they create a different identity for themself and they get locked into a group identity. Everyone struggles to create an identity for themselves, especially teenagers. While social media, such as instagram, does allow you to portray an image of who you want to be, you can never actually be considered different.
In the article “Notes on Instangrammism and Contemporary Culture Identity” by Lev Manovich attention is garnered squarely on the term coined by the author of new media. Best known for his book “The Language of New Media”, Manovich reputes instagrammism has been around for a long time, enough that it has influence on Instagram culture, the distinction between aesthetic and anesthetic the adjective versus noun form of the word is designed to give us pleasure for beauty, a pleasing appearance or concerned with beauty. While some may not think its beautiful it could be something that is designed – that’s the adjective to describe something that might been aesthetic. The noun anesthetic is a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. It might involve beauty but it might not too for not everyone believe in a particular artist’s aesthetic is beautiful. Like Facebook and YouTube, Instagram is a powerful engine for social media. Launched in 2010 for the iOS, Instagram was a new app equipped with features for posting images and connecting with others quickly Manovich call this ‘network culture”. ubiquity of related technologies coalesced to show hoe he’s connecting them to Instagram and to other things. One important aspect is thinking how it relates to corresponding technologies that have been used or pre-existed. Kinfolk is a magazine chain and website aimed at young adults to encourage improving their lifestyles. Instagram would capitalize on the trends found in these magazine to appeal to a new aesthetic for constructing the outermost parts of identity.