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Freedom and Social Media – The Aesthetic Paradox of Travelling in the Era of Overtourism

An Experiment as Practice-Based Research

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Ökonomische und soziologische Tourismustrends
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Abstract

How do travelling and the documentation of travelling cohere? How do social media affect the aesthetics of travelling? This article explores how mindfulness, authenticity, and serendipity are affected by travelling and social media. In an attempt to subvert social media algorithms, an artefact (a photographic series) records travelling in Tuscany, where motives were chosen based on their unpopularity on social media. The artefact is analysed based on content and contextualised historically and aesthetically. An analysis of the effectiveness of the method leverages Google’s image search engine. The artefact thus offers an “alternative” Tuscan experience that is aesthetically free from the paradoxes arising from social media. Finally, the article aims to frame the artefact within cybernetics and the concept of freedom.

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Correspondence to Silvio Barta .

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© 2020 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature

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Barta, S. (2020). Freedom and Social Media – The Aesthetic Paradox of Travelling in the Era of Overtourism. In: Pietzcker, D., Vaih-Baur, C. (eds) Ökonomische und soziologische Tourismustrends. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29640-7_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29640-7_34

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  • Publisher Name: Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-29639-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-29640-7

  • eBook Packages: Business and Economics (German Language)

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