A "selfie museum" or "Instagram museum" is a type of art gallery or installation designed to provide a setting for visitors to pose in photographs to be posted on social media sites such as Instagram. Typical features of exhibits in a selfie museum include colorful backdrops, oversize props, and optical illusions such as anamorphosis.
29Rooms, a three-day immersive art installation created by Refinery29 in 2015 in New York City, has been cited as the first example of this type of facility.[1][2] The Museum of Ice Cream, opened in 2016, is also credited as a major catalyst of selfie museums.[3][4][5] By 2019, there were reportedly dozens of selfie museums across the United States.[6] They faced challenges in 2020 when most were forced to close temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8]
Some predecessors to this trend from the contemporary art world have been identified, such as Rain Room, Urban Light, and the mirrored rooms of Yayoi Kusama.[9][10] The large-scale experimental artworks exhibited at the Burning Man festival have also been cited as an influence, as well as the artist collective Meow Wolf.[11]
Some commentators have criticized the use of the word "museum" to describe these establishments.[12][13] Unlike traditional museums, which are often non-profit organizations with an educational mission, selfie museums are almost always for-profit businesses, earning money through admission fees and, in some cases, corporate sponsorships.[14][15] Museum of Ice Cream founder Maryellis Bunn has expressed regret over using the word, and coined the term "experium" (a portmanteau of "experience" and "museum") to describe such businesses.[16]
