Instagram is now integral to the culture of art galleries and museums and can be used to attract younger audiences, say the founders of a contemporary Dutch art space coming to London this summer.
Kim Rockies Prince and her husband Lionel co-founded the Moko Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Street Art in Amsterdam and are opening a 25,000 square foot space in London.
Moko is best known for its collection of pop art and street art, with the likes of Banksy, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat adorning its walls in Amsterdam. These “energetic” and “vibrant” artists have proven popular on social media posters, but some in the art world wonder if Instagram is killing museum culture. Some people embrace it.
“Instagram has become popular in other museums as well,” says Lionel Rockies-Prince. “What we’re in now is a new era. Every museum has people posting on Instagram, and that’s good for us because it brings in more people.”
The gallery, which also has another location in Barcelona, targets 18-35 year olds and aims to attract 600,000 visitors in its first year, rising to 1 million a year by 2026. I am. Admission fee and cafe required. and a membership model.
Moko will join central London’s crowded art world, with independent galleries such as David Zwirner and Marlboro dotted across Mayfair and adjacent to Moo’s new location in Marble Arch.
“It’s a gamble, but I think people are willing to pay for a unique experience,” Kim Rockies Prince said, adding that their gallery is a “gateway” for young art fans.
She said that while many young people who visit museums may be movie buffs or fashion enthusiasts, the art world is new to many. “A lot of people come who have never heard of Basquiat or Haring, but they leave feeling involved in the art world,” she said.
The gallerist says he sees “a lot of Millennials and Gen Z” in his two galleries, and estimates that about 65% of people are first-time museum visitors.
Gallery owners sell priceless Banksy painting (‘Monkey Venom’) for £1.5 million to avoid staff redundancies due to coronavirus pandemic, new owners loan it back to Moko It just became a hot topic. Kim called it a “miracle” at the time.
Moco owns 65-70% of the artwork, with the remaining 30% of the artwork on display being split between the artists and private collectors who loan out the pieces. “For us, this is a business model,” she said in 2018. “We’re renting a very expensive building and we have to stuff it with something appealing to get people to buy tickets.”
When Moko opened its first site in Amsterdam in 2016, it was part of a wave of new galleries changing the cultural landscape of the Netherlands.
Other private museums and galleries have also been open since 2016, including the Voorlinden Museum near The Hague, the More Museum and the Nohero Museum, which, according to the Financial Times, have seen “flagrant displays of wealth. It represents a major shift in a country that is still often frowned upon.