For as long as there have been artists, there have been nudes. From prehistoric cave painters to the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance, the human body in all its glory has been a steadfast focus of creative expression, and the world’s museums brim with drawings, paintings, sculptures and photographs of the naked form.
As social media has grown in clout as a marketing tool some art institutions have attempted to lure visitors via channels such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, only to fall foul of policies against “sexually explicit content”. Apparently, this has become a problem so frustrating that the tourist board of a certain European city recently staged a protest by opening an OnlyFans account.
OnlyFans is a social-media channel that — though it's not solely for this purpose — has something of a reputation as a place where account-holders can share risqué content with paid, adults-only subscribers.
The tourist board in question has had several run-ins with social-media moderators and algorithms in the past few years, including having a post by the Natural History Museum banished from Facebook in 2018 for being potentially pornographic — it was a photo of a 25,000-year-old female figurine (pictured).
Similarly, Instagram has rejected several works by many of the city’s museums and, this July, one museum’s TikTok account was suspended and then blocked for showing a partially obscured breast by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.
So the board in late September launched the OnlyFans account, saying the city’s art institutions were falling victim to a “new wave of prudishness” on social media and that the channel was a way to promote its attractions, using works it considers “crucial and important”.
At first the $4.99 (R77) monthly subscription fee included a City Pass or a ticket to one of participating museums: the Leopold, the Albertina, the Kunsthistorisches (Art History Museum), or the Naturhistorisches (Natural History Museum, pictured above).
This week it announced that it was doing away with the fees. “We started our OnlyFans account to protest the rampant censorship of explicit art by social-media algorithms. Though the problem is by no means solved, we like to believe that we helped spark a global discussion,” it said.
It will continue to post content on the platform, but it said making access free will “give every art lover out there the opportunity to enjoy (the city’s) art as intended by the artists”.
HOW TO ENTER
To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of the city whose tourist board launched the OnlyFans account. E-mail your answer to travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on Tuesday November 9.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- The competition is open to South African residents only.
- Only one entry per person is allowed.
- The same person is not eligible to win in a six-month period.
- The competition closes on November 9 2021 at noon.
- The winner will be chosen via a random draw from all eligible entries received.
- The winner will be notified via email. Their name will be published along with the correct answer in the Travel section of the Sunday Times Lifestyle magazine on November 14 2021.
• Last week’s winner is Averil Arnot. The correct answer was Majorca.
