The art world can’t escape influencers
8 min read
Influencers and influencer marketing are slowly but surely filtering into the art world. Can this be a force for good? Rachel Kubrick attempts to overlook the cringe and stereotypes and take it seriously
Unless you have the chutzpah to forgo the dystopian cycle of letting Mark Zuckerberg and algorithms control your whole life (in which case, I salute you), then you are probably active on social media. If you also happen to find yourself in the art-world microcosm of this space, you’re unlikely to have avoided the ever growing group of aspiring art VIPs trying to make a name for themselves.
These Insta-aficionados and Katy Hessel wannabes constantly post their gallery outings, hot (or perhaps tepid) artistic takes, and of course, copious selfies, on their stories and grid. As a fairly camera shy individual, I’ll admit that this barrage of photos, videos, and reels often leaves me shuddering with second hand embarrassment. Evidently, I approached this subject with a healthy dose of cynicism, but tried to keep an open mind nonetheless.
These days, it seems that building a personal brand is just as important as building your CV in the creative industries. And with networking and being ‘on the scene’ so essential to making an impression in the art world, being easily recognisable and, dare I say, approachable at private views is a must. So, à la proto influencer Carrie Bradshaw, I couldn’t help but wonder, are art influencers the cringe-worthy last gasps of the avant-garde, or a new movement in an industry that’s all about ego and keeping up appearances?
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For writer and speaker Tabish Khan (@londonartcritic, 28.1k followers) Instagram has made all the difference. “Social media enabled me to transition from my corporate job to working full-time in the arts”, he explained. “My presence on Instagram has opened many doors for me, including opportunities in writing, curating, judging prizes, and much more.” And being approached for the occasional sponcon from art-adjacent brands doesn’t hurt, especially when “sponsored content often pays much better than writing when translated to hourly or daily rates, and in a tough freelance market, it can be hard to turn down.”
Social media, Khan claims, can also act as an equaliser in an industry synonymous with elitism and gatekeeping. “We have seen improvements in diversity in art, but white middle-class people still dominate art writing and criticism. It’s still a world driven by who you know and who you went to school with, and the rise of social media and influencer culture allows others to enter that discussion, even if I think many editors and writers still look down on those whose main outlet is social media,” says Khan (guilty as charged).
@jerrygogosian
When I reached out to those I might consider art influencers, many were very reluctant to use that as a self-descriptor, including Khan. Even the queen bee Jerry Gogosian, alter ego of Hilde Lynn Helphenstein (@jerrygogosian, 151k followers), revealed, “I deliberately eschew the term ‘influencer’ in favour of identifying as an artist.” She goes on to explain that, despite the massive following she has accrued since founding this satirical meme account, “The mere thought of introducing myself as an influencer fills me with profound discomfort.”
“Having immersed myself in the art world for nearly a decade before establishing @jerrygogosian, I’ve cultivated genuine influence rather than conforming to the contemporary archetype of social media influence. My creative process is entirely organic; I never approach my work with the calculated mindset of content creation.” Helphenstein maintains “a deliberate distance from the art influencer ecosystem, preferring to chart my own course,” emphasising the difference between being an influencer, and being influential.
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However, social media aficionado Cassandra Bowes (@the_arts_editor, 19.6k followers) championed the term despite the stigma, stating that she would consider herself an influencer “in the generally understood sense of the word. I create content, I work in partnership with ‘brands’, and I monetise that work.”
Alternatively, ‘content creator’ appears to be a more welcome job description. Art history comedian Verity Babbs (@veritybabbsart, 6k followers) elaborates that “lots of content creators – even those who do have brand deals, whose looks are key to their content, and who do receive PR packages, etc. – take issue with being labelled an ‘influencer’ because societally we’ve decided that being an influencer is vapid and easy.” At an influencer tour at Christie’s, for example, “a lot of people felt affronted by the label, even though we were all there taking pictures / videos in the same way.”
“Influencer has become a dirty word,” says Aimee Dawson, a freelance arts writer and editor who authors the monthly column Insta’gratification – about how the art world and social media collide – for The Art Newspaper. Somewhat surprisingly, she has found “little cause” to cover influencers in her column, explaining, “The art world skews old and uptight – and that does not a social media influencer make! I have huge respect for social media influencers, it’s not an easy job. Sharing so much of yourself and your life online is anxiety inducing and the nature of the work – particularly these days when the main Western social media platforms are in flux – is incredibly precarious.”
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Both Bowes and Dawson noted how slow the visual art world has been to utilise influencers, especially as a marketing tool, as opposed to similar luxury industries like fashion and beauty. The Social Art Agency, which Bowes founded in 2022, is working to bridge that gap. Bowes explains the potential benefits: “Influencers play a crucial role in building trust – something that paid advertising strategies frequently lack when targeting cold audiences.” Her clients are most concerned with brand alignment when considering partnering with an influencer, and that their focus is to create “meaningful experiences – events, private views, or behind-the-scenes access – that give influencers a genuine story to tell,” usually via Instagram.
PR agency Flint Culture has also started to collaborate with influencers for their campaigns, such as Japan Cultural Expo 2.0 and Jeddah arts initiative Balad Al-Fann. As their head of digital Carine Hawkins explains, “We usually involve influencers before an official launch to capture a sense of discovery and first access…position[ing] influencers as early cultural tastemakers, building momentum before wider public engagement.” Hawkins describes influencer marketing as a “match-making exercise” to connect art organisations with influencers that have shared values and can also reach the target audience.
Museums are slowly taking up the influencer marketing mantle as well. The National Gallery, for example, created the 200 Creators Network to help celebrate its bicentennial last year, which Dawson identifies as a “real turning point”. Project lead Ellie Wyant calls this initiative “the first of its kind in the creative sector”, awarding 200 content creators (Wyant avoided the word influencer) a yearlong membership and event access, and even opportunities with Meta. Additionally the museum worked with 20 Creative Collaborators to create high quality content in the galleries, which has already been viewed over 40 million times. The fee for each collaborator was a cool £4,000.
According to Becks Turner, who manages social media and content at Southbank Centre, there are three types of influencer marketing: organic (inviting influencers to events with no content guarantee), paid (paying influencers to create content), and treating influencers as talent, as in paying them to be in the institution’s own content. Turner identifies results beyond increased engagement: “I’ve also seen ticket sales increase when the content is made live, showing that working with influencers is key as the content resonates with their audience and does then encourage them to book.” Turner, and other social media professionals I spoke with, emphasised the authenticity influencers bring, a term I would not naturally associate with influencing.
Dawson predicts that more art world institutions will collaborate with influencers in future, and Babbs observes how museums have already been adapting to potential content creator visits, such as glare-proof glass for framing and Instagrammable installations in exhibition marketing. Can inviting influencers, especially those from beyond the art world, finally help struggling institutions reach the elusive goal of bringing the perpetually new, young audience into these historically exclusive spaces? Influencer sceptics be damned, I may have been converted.
