The Algorithmic Pedestal: A Practice-Based Study of Algorithmic and 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. Fabienne Hess, a London-based artist, also chose images to display from the same collection. This article reflects on the process of producing an exhibit with curatorial inputs from both a machine and a human. It also shares and describes the selected images for the first time.