The role of social media messages in cultural communication: The case study of an Instagram reel

The article focuses on the analysis of a reel post uploaded on the Basil & Elise (B&E) Goulandris Foundation’s Instagram account on the occasion of the exhibition “Nouveau Réalisme”, presented at the homonymous museum in 2023. It aims to investigate the role and function of communication messages in the digital environment of the post-COVID-19 era and especially in that of social media (SM). The article addresses various parameters related to the wider context of the message production, its role in the Foundation’s communication strategy as well as the influence of the pandemic crisis and its effects on the planning of this strategy as regards the utilization of SM. Moreover, an interpretation of the communication message based on the decoding of its symbolic meaning is proposed through the use of the visual and sociological communication model of Barthes. Finally, the message’s reception by the public is detected. The complexity and polysemy of communicative act, which is revealed through the analysis, indicate both the need for a combined interdisciplinary approach and the crucial importance of considering its variables (the message itself as well as its production and reception contexts) in a holistic manner.