“I thought about it for quite a long time before I started Instagram. My questions were: What is my motivation in using it? What will be the content and the aesthetic criteria for my posts? What are my personal rules of the game? _ The COVID-19-related quarantine time slot motivated me to begin. I spent a lot of time choosing images, texts and hashtags. I enjoy doing it. My contributions could be seen as a BILDERATLAS inspired by Aby Warburg (Mnemosyne Bilderatlas) as well as by the process of film editing. What could be described as “mental space” between the images is important to me, as is the order in which the images appear. The chosen topics are related to what I am up to at the moment. There is a diaristic dimension to it. _ The possibility of discovering other people’s accounts and works by other artists from all over the world is a great and exiting experience. _ However, there is something about it that strikes me and makes me suspicious of it – the speed triggered by this medium, reflected in the few moments in which I choose to like or dislike other people’s posts. This extremely reduced snippet of time I take to look and decide seems to be a kind of behavior worth reconsidering. I am pretty sure I am not the only one subject to the medium’s inherently flighty nature? _ That’s why I am playing with the thought of making a publication/artist’s book out of my Instagram images and texts. Back to the roots, back to paper … We will see … _ This is a long one :) _ Your thoughts on the #goodandevil of Instagram are highly welcome!” (Hanna Schimek)

Hanna Schimek, *1948 in Vienna; lives and works in Vienna and Aegina/GR.