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What a beauty! Show me these fresh and fabulous image worlds of bright and stunning home experiences!

Aesthetic workers – and sometimes so-called influencers – are perfectly aware of the codes and rules of aesthetic image production; but most importantly, they have the skills to fuel the market in atmospheres, moods and desires with suitable images. For us as followers and consumers of these image worlds who like and share them, the aesthetic value of the image becomes the driving force on platforms like Instagram.

When taking a closer look at images of highly followed interior design and home accounts on Instagram, the question arises as to whether there is a specific Instagram aesthetic for displaying your home. Even though the aesthetic of these image-worlds is constantly transformed by new technologies, materials, and trends, there are some unvarying elements.

We can, for instance, observe a harmonisation and alignment with global aesthetics. In addition to the main characters – living room, kitchen and bathroom – experiences, emotions, and seemingly unique moments are recurring elements in the images. Here, the optics of improvisation and authenticity blend into a staged setting following an orchestrated production. The content of the images is detached from any context or functionality of housing and anything outside the current field of vision (the Instagram square) is not only invisible, but also not part of our everyday life.

However, these living spaces show not only objects, products, and surfaces, but also the subject itself, who is part of the staging. The presence of the influencer’s body (or parts of their body) is a performative process that presents a physical staging in the image. But this does not replace the possible lack of the viewer's own experiences. Another key element is the value of up-to-datedness: the attraction of the image is enhanced by linking the aesthetic experience to the factor of time.

Cultural capital is measured in terms of followers and turns into economic capital from the moment that advertising cooperations come into play and products are promoted and linked. Here, too, the aesthetics (of the image) is the bridge to marketing commercial products. While in modern societies, luxurious environments were an exclusive privilege of the rich, today – thanks to Instagram – each of us is free to participate in this new community of values and aesthetics.

The seemingly democratic access to platforms like Instagram – (nearly) everybody can create an Instagram account – enables many individuals to participate in sharing images of home and living environments. Nevertheless, the outcome is a product of homogenised taste. The global circulation and reproduction of these aesthetic ideals by Instagram (and other platforms), and the reproduction of values this implies, is produced and copied by us all.

And in the end, do these visual hegemonies ultimately manifest themselves in our own living spaces?