Selfies welcome: The new Insta-ready museums of the social media age

The Museum of Ice Cream was actually first invented as a result of Instagram. In 2016 it launched in New York and has since opened branches in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Photo: Christina Horsten/dpa

Fluffy clouds you can touch. Gentle rain falling from soap bubbles. Ball baths, glitter curtains, cotton candy. The rooms of the “Dream Machine” in New York are like a photo shoot in Alice in Wonderland. The new exhibition is one of the latest Instagram-ready experiences made for the social media age. 

It’s all part of a competition for fresh “likes” that has created a new kind of museum experience. The formula is simple: It’s not so much about the content as creating snappy, colourful and attractive images for Instagram feeds.