Instagrammable destinations as "whatever" destinations

Božić-Vrbančić, Senka (author), Kačan, Boris (photographer)

To be Instagrammable is to be caught in a loop of seeing and being seen – a loop that stretches across screens and through bodies, binding places like Telašćica Nature Park in Croatia to the affective economies of visibility. Drawing on Jodi Dean’s concept of communicative capitalism, this paper explores how the Instagrammable aesthetic transforms destinations into “whatever destinations” – sites flattened into consumable backdrops for the “authentic” experiences of a subject entrapped within the visual field.

• Language: English
• Keywords: cultural anthropology, digital media, social media, Instagram hot spots, aestheticization of environments, nature, Telašćica, Dugi otok, Croatia
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication date: 01.02.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 18-36
• Numbering: Letn. 3, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179400
• UDC: 316.774:502.2
• ISSN on article: 2820-6088
• DOI: 10.4312/svetovi.3.1.18-36
• COBISS.SI-ID: 228818691
• Publication date in RUL: 12.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Svetovi
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2820-6088
• COBISS.SI-ID: 148550403

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Najbolj instagramabilne destinacije kot "karkoli" destinacije

Abstract

Biti instagramabilen pomeni biti ujet v zanko videti in biti viden – zanko, ki se razteza čez ekrane in telesa ter povezuje kraje, kot je Naravni park Telašćica na Hrvaškem, z afektivno ekonomijo vidnosti. Članek na podlagi koncepta komunikacijskega kapitalizma, ki ga je razvila Jodi Dean, raziskuje, kako instagramabilna estetika spreminja destinacije v »karkoli destinacije« – lokacije, zreducirane na potrošna ozadja za »avtentične« izkušnje subjekta, ujetega v vizualno polje.

• Keywords: kulturna antropologija, digitalni mediji, družbena omrežja, Instagram, estetizacija narave, narava, naravni park Telaščića, Dugi otok, Hrvaška

Projects

• Funder: AKA - Academy of Finland
• Project number: 353876
• Name: Digital Aestheticization of Fragile Environments (DigiFREN)