The Commercial Art Gallery in the Instagram Era - How do commercial art galleries in Amsterdam embed Instagram as a digital tool in their daily business practice?

The contemporary era is characterized by a continuous flux of changes brought by the digital revolution that is deeply affecting our lives. These radical changes in society have not left the art market unchanged, as it is a direct product of this world we are living in. In particular the primary art market, whose protagonists are the art galleries, has renewed its traditional approach by introducing in their practice the use of social media. Among all the social media, Instagram stands out being particularly suitable for the art because of its being solely iconic and visual. Hence, it permits retailer’s businesses to display their products in an aesthetically appealing frame. Despite the increasing attention that Instagram is obtaining from the art world, there still is a consistent lack in the researches on the way in which the social media is actually employed by art galleries for businesses purposes. That is why, this research focuses on investigating how commercial art galleries in Amsterdam are including Instagram as a digital tool in their daily business practice. The Amsterdam art market is peculiar for its being the center of the entire Dutch art market as well as for its art dealers’ highly traditional way of managing their businesses. In this sense, it is expected that Instagram’s potentialities as a social networking site could challenge the traditional way of operating of the Amsterdam art galleries. Moreover, it will be looked at how and for which purposes these galleries are including Instagram in their everyday activities. As results it has been underscored that the main reason why Instagram has been capitalized by these art galleries is for promotional purposes while it is not being described as a convenient platform for doing direct sales. Furthermore, the inclusion of Instagram within the art galleries daily practice has opened new communicational and relational opportunities worldwide that have challenged the traditional Amsterdam art galleries reality. In conclusion it was possible to state that since the advent of Instagram within the Amsterdam art galleries practice some pillars of their institutional practicalities have undergone changes while some others have remained the same.