EVENT : OBSERVATION, CREATION AND CONNECTION / INSTAMEET
In history, only a few privileged ones had the luck of being able to exhibit their work and making themselves known through generations. The only way we had to be remembered was to be featured in books, museums, coins or newspapers, and the chance of success depended on the opinions of a few expert ones. Today, thanks to the internet and all the different platforms we have, it’s easy to share what we do and leave our mark in the world. We don’t need to be in a book to be reminded, we’re revolutionizing the meaning of relevance and connection.
Relevance, can make us be remembered or forgotten. But transcendence is about inspiring and moving others. Having a gallery, being featured, or promoted it is not a fate, money or education thing anymore, it's about realizing each one of us holds the power to become immortal in the back of our pockets: We have Instagram.
Launched in 2010, an initially `squared box´ application meant to upload on-the-spot content transformed in a new medium for creativity; giving anyone the opportunity to transmit a moment as artistically as they could. With this, new artists were born: Photographers, designers, architects, engineers, anyone with the ability to observe rather than just “see” their everyday scenario.
This platform became a scroll down gallery full of personal interests and daily inspiration from different creatives around the world, this shaped a community eager to share their unique point of view. After just a year from the release of this app the Worldwide Instameet happened: For the first time people from diverse cities, groups, ages, cultural backgrounds and genders came together for a day, to meet and capture a specific city based on their devotion for making beautiful things out of the mundane.
Last April, we attended the #WWIM13MX at Los Viveros de Coyoacán in México City.
These biannual events are organized by Mexico’s own Instagram community in order to bring people together, this edition had about 400 Instagrammers from all over the country celebrating the Earth Day. It started at 11am, when you arrived the organizers gave you a “welcome kit” with Instagram pins, stickers and tattoos <3 then you had to brand yourself with your username ( Follow us @c37mx. ) After this the challenge was to mingle around the Coyoacán surroundings, meet people and take creative pictures in the same context as the others.
The interaction was amazing, there you could witness a unique collaboration between people that in a usual situations will never ever merge: They were creating together, finding value in the unexpected moments, celebrating themselves and connecting through a lens.
There was nothing trivial about stopping on the street and taking a picture of a wall, a sunset or a person standing in the middle of a flower field. This was art; By being part of this we learned Instagram is changing completely the way we interact and see the world around us, it is actually making it more meaningful. People notice things others don't, they communicate and evolve through an online platform by uploading their version of the world, this doesn't mean it's making people appreciate “offline life” less, in fact, it is challenging people to find beauty in every day while they get inspired in real time by others around the world.
This is the essence of a true artist: one that mutates and creates new realities. All of the people we met used this platform as a tool for their career. Instagram is more than a community builder, it is a personal museum and manager.
We met and talked with an eclectic group of people with different styles and influences from nature, urban, landscape, portrait, colorful, minimal and black & white photography and understood that this application can be a professional tool.
We asked this artists why they chose Instagram as their creative outlet and their answers can be summarized in two words:
Community and Expansion.
Instagram is much more than a simple social media platform, it is a virtual space to express yourself, to get to know others, to connect with amazing brands and to expand your professional & geographical limits.
We might all not be the Dalís, Van Goghs or Klimts of our generations. But, every time we dare to share a piece of our art, a piece of us, we’re contributing to something beyond us. If people love the way you see the world, remember that now we don't have gatekeepers like editors or curators to be relevant. Do it for the Klimts who never got to be in a museum. Do it for yourself. Never think twice about sharing your work --you never know who just might see you.
You can find more about the event in the future at @instameet_mx. Special thanks to the event’s organizers: @letizilla, @aaronwalls, @rood_omar, @la_mayte, @mimivelarde and @oscar_ro.
Article in collaboration with @k.kathya.