The Algorithmic Pedestal: a Practice-Based Study of Algorithmic & Artistic Curation

This paper delineates the authors’ practice-based findings from The Algorithmic Pedestal exhibit, a practice-based research project examining the impact of algorithmic curation on visual ecology. Instagram, a platform that deploys algorithmic recommendations to select and display artworks, was instructed to choose a set of images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection to display. A London-based artist also chose images to display from the same collection. In this paper, the authors reflect on the process of producing an exhibit with both machinic and human curatorial inputs; they also share and describe the selected images for the first time.