Selfie “museums” are coming

(Stockholm) A reflection of the “era of the 2020s” or that of a narcissistic generation? In Stockholm, the latest of the self-proclaimed “museums” of the selfie arrives to offer a colorful setting to followers of Instagram and TikTok.

Billed as “an interactive experience for social media,” the Swedish capital’s “Youseum” has no artwork hanging on a large white wall and its entry price (about 29 euros, or $40 ) is closer to an amusement park.

Here, visitors stroll through brightly colored and eccentrically decorated rooms, meant to offer them a top-notch background for their social media photos.

“Here you can take pictures”cool“and create content”cool“for your Instagram or your Facebook, and if you are on TikTok you are in the perfect place to do it”, explains to AFP Sofia Makiniemi, one of the managers of the places.

Behind her, the “Emoji Room” is filled with blue and yellow balls representing the must-haves smilies.

In the dozen other themed rooms, you can bury yourself in candy-colored foam sticks in a room evoking the French Riviera, strike your best pose under neon lights, or sit on a giant pink swing to her next profile picture.

“There is lighting, TikTok music, sweets, all the things we like,” savors Zeneb Elmani, 18, who came to visit with a group of friends. The high schooler likes that the place has the “2020s era” atmosphere.

“Too late to worry”

Located in a shopping mall, the Youseum “is an interactive museum where you can create the art you want to see”, defends M^me Makiniemi.

After the first two spaces launched in the Netherlands by commercial real estate giant Westfield, Sweden is the second country to welcome one.

It opened in mid-March in a gigantic company shopping center in Solna, a suburb of Stockholm. Others are announced in Germany or Dubai.

The era of social networks and its procession of influencers and influencers also come with growing warnings about their dangers for the mental health of adolescents and young people, especially girls.

“It’s a big part of our society today, so why not try to make it more creative? “, defends Sofia Makiniemi.

The young high school girls visiting that day do not worry about this kind of thing.

“I think this place is cute for people who love taking pictures. It’s so cute here, oh my God it’s so cute,” exclaims 18-year-old Chaymae Ouahchi. However, she does not see herself as an influencer and claims to be “a very secretive person”.

Some “boomers” might cough at the idea of ​​calling a place dedicated to the trivialized practice of telephone self-portraiture a “museum”. Others, like Bill Burgwinkle, a 70-year-old teacher who came with his niece, think you just have to accept it.

“I think it’s too late to worry. The world is like that now,” he says, and this kind of place, not very likely, “seems to serve its purpose.”