Glaucoma: Artist Tricks Instagram Algorithm to Show Nipples

Artist Michele Galli, operating under the pseudonym @SoContemporary, has successfully bypassed Instagram's censorship algorithm with his new media art project Glaucoma. Since early 2021, Galli has been posting iconic artworks from Giotto to contemporary pieces where the entire body is obscured except for breasts, buttocks, and genitals—the very elements typically censored. The algorithm fails to detect these because it cannot correlate the isolated body parts with a full nude figure. Galli describes the project as a mix of provocation and mockery, inspired by Emilio Isgrò's erasures from the 1960s. He criticizes the platform's double standards, noting that verified blue-check accounts can post more explicit content. The project highlights the absurdity of social media censorship, where sexualized content and misinformation thrive while art nudes are banned. Galli's real identity remains unknown. The Vienna Museums have taken a different approach by opening an OnlyFans account to share nudes by Schiele and other Secessionist artists without restriction.