Instagrampier
Pierfrancesco Celada
Photographer Pierfrancesco Celada lived for eight years in Hong Kong. From 2016 to 2021, he took pictures every day of a public cargo pier on the west side of the island, a place much prized by Instagrammers, photographers and others for making selfies and images in which they put themselves in scene, using the port as background. As he took his photos, Celada gradually began to notice the repetitions in his own images and in those of others, as well as in the compositions created using this unusual background. The pier functioned as a meeting point between the real world and the virtual world. People often returned there several times to create and recreate images similar to ones they’d already seen and posted online, in order to make memes.
Celada created an exhibition of his images on Instagram. In March 2021, his project was brought to an end when the authorities closed the pier to the public. He then created a port online so as to offer a new space of expression in the virtual world. In Biel/Bienne, his project which questions the power of digital media in contexts where public freedoms are being challenged, is accompanied by an interactive exhibit by the lakeshore: #instagrampierbiel.
Take a picture and post it with the #instagrampierbiel:
- Pilier de l’amour – Liebessäule Nidau (Schlossstrasse 25, 2560 Nidau) : 47°07’47.9″N 7°13’51.5″E
- Rue du Débarcadère – Ländtestrasse (chemin le long du lac) : 47°07’59.9″N 7°13’56.0″E
With the support of: Jura Trois-Lacs, Tourisme Bienne Seeland
Year of production: 2016-2021
