In Pics - A perfect place for selfies. Sweden's 'Youseum', let's you be the art and the artist
By allowing visitors to be both the exhibit and the artist, a new selfie 'museum' in Sweden is flipping the script.
Let's take a look:
There are no works of art on the walls of the "Youseum" in Stockholm. In fact, its brightly-decorated rooms are designed to serve as backgrounds for selfies or videos taken by visitors.
There are no works of art on the walls of the "Youseum" in Stockholm. In fact, its brightly-decorated rooms are designed to serve as backgrounds for selfies or videos taken by visitors.
(Photograph:AFP)
"You can take cool pictures and create cool content for your Instagram... This is the perfect place to do Tiktoks," Sofia Makiniemi, the manager, told AFP of the "Emoji Room" filled with blue and yellow balls painted with smiley and frowny faces.
"You can take cool pictures and create cool content for your Instagram... This is the perfect place to do Tiktoks," Sofia Makiniemi, the manager, told AFP of the "Emoji Room" filled with blue and yellow balls painted with smiley and frowny faces.
(Photograph:AFP)
Other rooms allow you to bury yourself in pink foam sticks or massive pillows, pose under neon lights, or bounce on a giant pink swing for your next profile picture. "You have the lighting, you have the Tiktok music, you have snacks, you have all the things that we like," Zeneb Elmani, 18, said as he and his friends toured the museum.
Other rooms allow you to bury yourself in pink foam sticks or massive pillows, pose under neon lights, or bounce on a giant pink swing for your next profile picture.
"You have the lighting, you have the Tiktok music, you have snacks, you have all the things that we like," Zeneb Elmani, 18, said as he and his friends toured the museum.
(Photograph:AFP)
Visitors to the Youseum, located in a shopping mall, get to be artists themselves, although the average influencer might not consider their images to be art. "It's an interactive museum where you can create the art you want to see," she said. Youseums were founded in the Netherlands, where there are already two of them.
Visitors to the Youseum, located in a shopping mall, get to be artists themselves, although the average influencer might not consider their images to be art.
"It's an interactive museum where you can create the art you want to see," she said.
Youseums were founded in the Netherlands, where there are already two of them.
(Photograph:AFP)
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Concerns are growing about social media's dangers, particularly its impact on young people's mental health, especially girls. "It is a big part of our society today, so why not try to make it more creative," argued the manager Makiniemi.
Concerns are growing about social media's dangers, particularly its impact on young people's mental health, especially girls.
"It is a big part of our society today, so why not try to make it more creative," argued the manager Makiniemi.
(Photograph:AFP)
The young women visiting don't really seem concerned about narcissism or a darker side. "I think this place is cute for people who love to take pictures, like my friends...Oh my god it's so cute," said 18-year-old Chaymae Ouahchi while talking to AFP.
The young women visiting don't really seem concerned about narcissism or a darker side.
"I think this place is cute for people who love to take pictures, like my friends...Oh my god it's so cute," said 18-year-old Chaymae Ouahchi while talking to AFP.
(Photograph:AFP)
While most older generations may scoff at the idea of a museum dedicated to the apparently self-indulgent practice of taking pictures of yourself, 70-year-old professor Bill Burgwinkle told a reporter that we should embrace the practice. "I think it's too late to worry. It's the way the world is now," he said, pointing out how the unorthodox museum seems to "serve its purpose".
While most older generations may scoff at the idea of a museum dedicated to the apparently self-indulgent practice of taking pictures of yourself, 70-year-old professor Bill Burgwinkle told a reporter that we should embrace the practice.
"I think it's too late to worry. It's the way the world is now," he said, pointing out how the unorthodox museum seems to "serve its purpose".