
A Penthouse Made for Instagram - mattbierner
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/business/media/instagram-influencers-penthouse.html
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mattbierner
I'm quite hesitant to mention this for fear that my reason for bringing it up
will be grossly misunderstood, but the setup this article describes bears an
uncanny resemblance to locations used by the adult entertainment industry.
Both cases share the theme of a constructed fantasy life, a life that we as
image consumers must realize is not real yet nevertheless choose to buy in to
on some level.

This penthouse is not real; rather it exists beyond reality. The fantasy it
expresses is what we imagine luxury and the good life looks like, rather than
how such a life actually looks. But now that this penthouse does physically
exist—now I can go take pictures of myself in it and now that people are
actively decorating their own luxury apartments to look like it—how can you
say that it is not real? How can you claim that it does not accurately reflect
what luxury and the good life really are?

This whole hot take is basically a regurgitation of some of Baudrillard's
ideas btw. I keep coming back to his concept of hyperreality because it seems
so relevant today, and this is an area that I hope to keep exploring. Ahh, if
only I could reserve a photoshoot there...

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FooHentai
'The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based
community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from
your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the
world really works anymore," he continued. [...] when we act, we create our
own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you
will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too,
and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all
of you, will be left to just study what we do'

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GW150914
Well that totally doesn’t sound like someone with a personality disorder. /s

I’m fairly sure that history will almost instantly forget them, because they
exist to be disposable, to be replaced, and as interest and attention moves on
their “mark” on history will be exceedingly shallow. Maybe that’s the
difference between this constructed “reality” and... reality. Something real
can be lasting, while this cotton candy version of reality only seems
substantial from a certain angle, for a little while. It’s a kind of shallow
“reality” for shallow people with minuscule attention spans.

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FooHentai
Unfortunately you're categorically wrong, since the aide in question was Karl
Rove.

~~~
GW150914
Well at least I nailed the personality disorder bit.

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devadvance
This reminds me of an article on The Verge two years ago documenting the semi-
intentional convergence of interior design [1]. Admittedly, there was a focus
on spaces like short term rentals and coffee shops, but the effect seems
translatable; we seem to be converging on sterile, "personalized but not
personal" designs.

I'm curious if, similar to the dislike many have for the unrealistic
airbrushed images of the human form, we will arrive at a place where these
sterile, fatastical spaces are no longer in vogue. In many ways, it encourages
a similar level of unhealthy pursuit of the unattainable.

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-
aesthetic-...](https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-
global-minimalism-startup-gentrification)

~~~
Xcelerate
I used to be in favor of certain styles for office or home design
(particularly industrial modern or industrial chic), but over time I've grown
a fondness for one-of-a-kind quirkiness. Places that at first glance perhaps
aren't very aesthetic, but there is still an order or a pattern to them (as
opposed to an unstyled or haphazard space), and once you start looking more
closely, there's a lot to like.

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pandatigox
I believe that this article is meant to invoke horror and show how artificial
the penthouse and the industry it upholds by using words like "picture
perfect" or "spotless". Personally, I'm all for it because the penthouse is
just another step to making professional looking shots more accessible and
attainable for the average person. As the article notes: "some were even
booking hotel rooms or making covert visits to furniture stores to get their
work done."

Instagram is no longer a platform for uploading amateur photos. It's become
its own industry now and we should be treating it as such, and not just
shaking our heads.

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wccrawford
Lately I've heard a lot of people complaining about magazines photoshopping
women and Facebook posts that depress people because they just show how great
other people's lives are.

This is the same thing. This is people deliberately creating an unrealistic
scene and trying to play it off as real.

People can do whatever they want, but I'd much rather follow someone who
showing their own home instead of faking it to this extent. (And that goes for
the people who rent a hotel room or pose in furniture stores, too.)

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SmellyGeekBoy
What's so "unrealistic" about it? Unlike the Photoshopped fabrications you
talk about it does indeed exist.

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PhasmaFelis
It sells the lie "I am an ordinary person and this is how I live," just like
airbrushed models sell the model "this is how a person is supposed to look."
Don't get too hung up on the literal meaning of "realistic."

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SmellyGeekBoy
I don't get it. It looks similar to a lot of AirBnbs I've rented. The
furniture isn't really to my taste but it has that "clutter-free living space
that isn't actually lived in" air about it.

If anything the NY Times have just bought into the owner's marketing hook,
line and sinker and have regurgitated a press release on their behalf.

Or is this presented here for our daily social media 2 minutes' hate?

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Semiapies
Because a photography set is a scary, scary thing when it's used for new
media.

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rland
What’s old is new again: there is absolutely no difference between this and a
suburban interior built inside of a Hollywood soundstage.

Advertising: It’s the same. But different. But still the same.

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michaelbuckbee
This was the same thought I had, and to me it speaks to the increasing
professionalism of the Influencer space.

I imagine it was somewhat similarly weird when the first film companies were
building studios, and the infrastructure for making movies.

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mcintyre1994
I wonder how many luxury AirBnbs are rented a night at a time for this same
purpose. If I wanted to do marketing product shots for Instagram style adverts
that's probably where I'd go.

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corgiorgy
Here in NYC some Airbnbs are specifically marketing themselves as daytime
shoot locations.

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Gravityloss
The photos look just like any catalog or magazine shoot, i.e. not having what
I assume would be Instagram's charm of spontaneity and reality (I don't follow
Instagram).

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the_watcher
The charm and spontaneity of generally comes from the personality of the
influencers. Real or not, it's far easier to convey a personality that _seems_
real with an IG handle than in a magazine shoot. Stories makes it even easier.

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angarg12
I'm from Spain and I am in love with Spanish country houses. I find the
rawness and authenticity of those house much more beautiful than this
manicured fabricated penthouse. There is an almost primal appeal to the houses
of old people who don't know what Instagram is, and wouldn't give a shit
otherwise; people only concerned with the pragmatism of every day life. I
wonder if one day someone will decide to package and sell them as the fantasy
of living the simple life.

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cirgue
I think that has already lived, died, and we are now haunted by it's ghost.
How many hipster woodworkers are on Instagram producing various designs that
are fever-dream versions of arts-and-crafts furniture (which was itself an
aesthetic that relied heavily on rustic nostalgia)?

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hmiedema
This article is the most dystopian thing I've ever read

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the_watcher
Really? To me it just reads as "Instagram influencers realize that the
magazine shoot industry was on to something with this concept of 'sets'."

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danmg
I think he means that our reality has become a hellscape where this is a
product with willing customers.

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physicsyogi
The penthouse in question reminds me of how houses are staged. It looks
sterile and as the article says, "free from the clutter of everyday life".

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dest
Love the reflection of the flash on the ground in the second picture. It took
me a while to figure this out.

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Grue3
Reminds me of "that one pool" penthouse in Tokyo.

