Instagrammers Document Flooding throughout Europe

Countries throughout Western and Central Europe, particularly Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have experienced historic flooding over the last couple weeks, breeching levees and displacing tens of thousands along the Danube and Elbe rivers.

The flooding, the worst to hit Europe since 2002, has also claimed more than a dozen lives.

People throughout the region—both those impacted and those volunteering with relief efforts—have been sharing their experience through Instagram. View more photos by searching the hashtags #flood, #Flut (German) and #povodeň (Czech).

Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPaquarium

Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes & hashtags chosen by Instagram’s Community Team. For a chance to be featured on the Instagram blog, follow @instagram and look for a photo announcing the weekend’s project every Friday.

This weekend’s tag was #WHPaquarium, which asked participants to capture photos of their favorite underwater creatures. Every Monday we feature some of our favorite submissions from the project, but be sure to check out the rest here.

Capturing la Biennale di Venezia on Instagram

Every two years, Venice, Italy, transforms into the center of the art world. Established in 1895, the Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia) is a major contemporary art exhibition and the closest thing art has to the Olympics. Each of the 88 countries participating this year have selected promising artists to create elaborate installations in their designated national pavilions and palazzos. The installations are now open to the public and will be trafficked by more than 350,000 visitors before the Biennale closes on November 24.

To get a first-hand look at the Biennale, be sure to follow these Instagrammers who are there documenting the sights:

• Ai Weiwei, exhibiting artist — @aiww
• Vik Muniz, Brazilian artist — @vikmuniz
• JR, French artist — @jr
• Marc Quinn, British artist — @marcquinnart
• Tom Sachs, American artist — @tomsachs
• Erica Firpo, freelance journalist — @moscerina

Want to visit the national pavilions yourself? Check out these location pages:

• Russia Pavilion
• Germany Pavilion
• United States Pavilion
• Great Britain Pavilion
• Italy Pavilion
• Switzerland Pavilion

The Week on Instagram | 82

News

• The Daily Mail: Meet Tuna, the Chihuahua-Dachshund mix who has melted the hearts of 375,000 Instagram followers
• LiveScience: Cicadas Surface on Instagram
• Mashable: How One Instagram Hashtag Fights Pollution
• ESPN: X Games BMX Pros on Instagram

Get Involved

• Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPaquarium. View photos from the last project, #WHPlighthouse.

Around the Community

• Join the Instagram Team — We’re Hiring!
• The Art of the Post with @nasyakopteva
• Instagrammers Brave the Mists of South America’s Iguazu Falls

June 8 is International Yarn Bombing Day

Need inspiration for your own project? Check out New York-based crocheting artist Olek on Instagram: @oleknyc.

On June 8, for the third year running, yarn enthusiasts from around the globe will share their passion with the world through the act of yarn bombing.

Guerrilla knitters and crocheters will cover trees, lampposts and bike racks with their colorful handicrafts in a tradition established by Alberta knitter Joann Matvichuk.

Tag your own work and any yarn bombing installations you may come across with the #yarnbombing hashtag!

This Weekend’s Hashtag Project: #WHPaquarium

Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes & hashtags chosen by Instagram’s Community Team. For a chance to be featured on the Instagram blog, follow @instagram and look for a photo announcing the weekend’s project every Friday.

In honor of World Oceans Day tomorrow, the goal this weekend is to capture photos of your favorite underwater creatures, whether they’re the stars of your city’s aquarium or your own fish tank friends. Some tips to get you started: hold your phone against the glass and turn off flash to prevent reflections and glare; at the aquarium, jellyfish, turtles and fish take their own sweet time, so be patient and keep snapping; and keep an eye out—aquariums tend to be great places for silhouettes.

PROJECT RULES: Please only add the #WHPaquarium hashtag to photos taken over this weekend and only submit your own photographs to the project. Any image taken then tagged over the weekend is eligible to be featured right here Monday morning!

Instagrammers Visit Turkmenistan’s “Door to Hell”

To see more photos, browse the Derweze - Door to Hell at Karakum Desert location page and the #darvaza hashtag.

In the heart of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan lies “The Door to Hell,” a giant hole filled with eternally-burning fire. While drilling in 1971, Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas and it collapsed beneath their drilling rig, leaving a hole 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter and 20 meters (65 feet) deep. In an attempt to prevent the cavern’s poisonous gas from being released into the atmosphere, scientists decided to light it on fire and burn off the fumes. The gas is still burning today—40 years later—and a few brave Instagrammers have made the trek to the deposit to witness and document it in person.

80th Anniversary of the Drive-in Movie Theater

On this day in 1933, the very first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey, USA. The phenomenon quickly caught on with drive-ins numbering nearly 5,000 at its peak popularity peak popularity. Now, eighty years later, only a few hundred of these relics currently operate in the United States.

Many of these remaining theaters are celebrating the 80th anniversary with special showings. Will you be going to a drive-in tonight? Share your experience with the #drivein and #driveinmovie hashtags!

June 6, the National Day of Sweden

On June 6, Sweden celebrates National Day (Sveriges nationaldag).

The date holds historic significance for two reasons. On June 6, 1523, the independent state of Sweden was established with the election of King Gustav Vasa. Vasa’s ascendance brought an end to the Kalmar Union and the reign of a single ruler over the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. On the same day in 1809, Sweden adopted a new constitution granting civil rights and liberties to its citizens.

Experience National Day through the lens of the Swedes by browsing the #nationaldag hashtag.

Instagrammers Brave the Mists of South America’s Iguazu Falls

For more photos from the falls, check out the location pages for Garganta del Diablo in Argentina and Garganta do Diabo in Brazil.

The Iguazu River marks the border between the South American countries of Argentina and Brazil. As it snakes eastward towards Paraguay, the river encounters the Paraná Plateau where the it suddenly surges over an 82-meter drop. A series of islands along the 2.7-kilometer ridge divides the river into the hundreds of cataracts that make up Iguazu Falls, one of the widest waterfalls in the world.

The giant U-shaped gorge known as “The Devil’s Throat” marks the focal point of Iguazu. A kilometer-long walkway on the Argentine side leads visitors to a dizzying view from the gorge’s top, while the Brazilian side boasts a platform at the falls’ base that affords tourists a panoramic view of the surrounding 260 degrees of falls.

The protected environment on both sides of the border is home to many jungle species including Iguazu’s particularly photogenic coatis. Intrepid Instagrammers braved the mists and weren’t afraid to get their phones a bit damp for these incredible photos from the falls.