Guidelines for the rearrangement of Auschwitz Museum based on web pictures analysis

Abstract

This paper attempts to answer the question whether the exhibition of the Auschwitz Museum communicates its message properly to the audience or it should be modernised/ rearranged. The aim of the study is so to investigate the way visitors currently look at Auschwitz via the filter of social media. Between November 2014 until January 2015 the number of Instagram pictures with hashtag “Auschwitz” posted on-line nearly doubled to astonishing 80.000 images. In August 2016 the number of images reached over 151.000 making Instagram the essential tool for web picture analysis. In this case, the use of found photography was especially important for the authenticity of correlation between the visitor and one’s architectural surrounding. Specifically, using Instagram and Instagram feed sites, e.g. websta.me we address the questions of how people react to the architecture of the dead camp, how they photograph this place and what is the emphasis of captured images in this particular place.