Anti Social Media

[Filipfilm]

I just launched a project that deliberately ignores the economy of attention.

I love photography, but I realized that social media’s endless optimization for engagement was killing the actual art. Somewhere between the likes and the algorithms, the gallery became a stage, and the observer became an audience metric.

So, I built the exact opposite: Gallery Anonima.

There are no profiles. No follower counts. No comments. No likes. No virality. You are a seven-character id and nothing more. Your work enters a stream—it is seen or it isn't. You will never know the difference, and that is the point.

I also implemented the "Rule of 42." You get 42 works in your studio. 42 saves. Constraints force curation, and curation forces intention. Intention is the opposite of "content."

We do not optimize for engagement. We optimize for observation. It’s just a quiet room where things hang on walls, and people walk through slowly.

If you're tired of the noise, you can find a quiet corner here: www.galleryanonima.com

 

[KJ_North]

Good luck, I will stay on here.

 

[TJMcG114 1]

I like interaction, discourse, and discussion.

"...endless optimization for engagement;" "...and the observer became an audience metric," sounds like noise to me.

Maybe you could quietly explain how talking about art is killing it...?

 

[Jeff1547 47]

Hello and welcome, good luck....

 

[Filipfilm]

I like interaction, discourse, and discussion.

"...endless optimization for engagement;" "...and the observer became an audience metric," sounds like noise to me.

Maybe you could quietly explain how talking about art is killing it...?

I guess my issue is social media and it's addictiveness. It is made for you to feel good when u get like repost whatever. Check back, get notifications. Posting an image becomes about the response to the image. I mean that is ok for some, most even. I just wanted to try something else. I found social media unhealthy. It did not make me feel good.. I got off. But I still wanted to share my photos. I don't believe art can exist in a vacuum it need a viewer. I am just breaking that connection between artist and viewer. It's an experiment and judging by feedback likely a failed one. But I still kind of dig it. I am learning things about full stack development. I might be the only one or maybe there s few others. The internet is full of everything so maybe there is room for this.

 

[Wildcats1602]

On the one hand, I encourage innovation and like to see new ideas. On the other hand, this seems needlessly pretentious in a hobby that is already far too pretentious.

 

[Filipfilm]

On the one hand, I encourage innovation and like to see new ideas. On the other hand, this seems needlessly pretentious in a hobby that is already far too pretentious.

I truthfully didn't think sharing images without feedback would get such strong reactions (this is not the only one). It make me feel I am on to something. I mean the write up is pretentious but the idea is simple and quite clean in my mind. Take photos and share them. The catch is no one will know who you are and you won't know if anyone saw or enjoyed them. It's like a message in the bottle with no return address. But I fully understand that this is def not for 99.9 percent of people. And I understand artist want feedback and acknowledgement. I don't think I've ever seen a movie without credits or painting without attribution..that feedback loop is part of art making. But I guess this is a response to what I see as the feedback loop turned up so mush that it mutes the original piece.

 

[cgw116 141]

All sounds rather heavily inspired by the old Anonima Group in the US...

 

[Filipfilm]

All sounds rather heavily inspired by the old Anonima Group in the US...

Honestly didn't know about them but after searching now I see the rejection of identity and separation of the art form the artist def related. When I was searching anónima gallery and gallery anónima this did not come up. But thank u, I def see the relation. It was not purposeful.

 

[cgw116 141]

Have a look at Kyle Chayka's writings. His book "Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture" and his other writings and podcasts shook me awake about the damned algorithm-driven aesthetic that's squashing us.

 

[Dikkie1]

You are a seven-character id and nothing more.

There there, I thought I was back on my feet after my identity crisis.

It's a very interesting project , I agree with many things I dislike on social media... though the reason why I participated in social media is the connection, getting to know other people, also in real life later on.
If there's no interaction at all... I won't connect with someone else. Why would I then...
I can print 42 images and hang them in my spare room, where no one walks in and no one will comment or like and I'm pretty sure no one will ever have seen them and connect with me by giving feedback.

I encourage new ideas and innovation too, I like social experiments. This is a good experiment, but I'm not sure I'm the right guy to participate here.

 

[AlanKlein80 19]

It's like dating a pretty girl and not being able to show her off to your friends. Good luck.

 

[Dikkie1]

It's like dating a pretty girl and not being able to show her off to your friends. Good luck.

Or blind dating without having a picture of her, only the theoretical properties, parameters and interests of the person, on a sheet of paper.
And without the contact details, so you won't ever get interaction.

 

[kavinreed]

I just launched a project that deliberately ignores the economy of attention.

I love photography, but I realized that social media’s endless optimization for engagement was killing the actual art. Somewhere between the likes and the algorithms, the gallery became a stage, and the observer became an audience metric.

So, I built the exact opposite: Gallery Anonima.

There are no profiles. No follower counts. No comments. No likes. No virality. You are a seven-character id and nothing more. Your work enters a stream—it is seen or it isn't. You will never know the difference, and that is the point.

I also implemented the "Rule of 42." You get 42 works in your studio. 42 saves. Constraints force curation, and curation forces intention. Intention is the opposite of "content."

We do not optimize for engagement. We optimize for observation. It’s just a quiet room where things hang on walls, and people walk through slowly.

If you're tired of the noise, you can find a quiet corner here: www.galleryanonima.com

I really like the idea behind this, taking away the pressure to perform makes photography feel more like photography again. The 42-work limit is especially interesting; having a fixed boundary could make the act of choosing what stays feel much more intentional.