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All the United States Washington Seattle Museum of Pop Culture

Museum of Pop Culture

A museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction.

Seattle, Washington

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  mocchiatto / Atlas Obscura User
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The guitars at the MoPop.   Maggie Robinson / Atlas Obscura User
The iconic guitar sculpture at MoPOP   Alex Hendricks
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About

In Seattle, where art seems to spring from the ground like weeds from sidewalk cracks, it takes a truly audacious project to generate as much attention as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's contribution to the local art scene.

The 140,000-square-foot building of shimmering sheet metal designed by architect Frank Gehry resembles a smashed electric guitar and is called "the Blob" by locals. It contains the Museum of Pop Culture, or MoPOP, is a place where music, science fiction, and many other things meet.

Opened in 2000 as the Experience Music Project, with a special emphasis on legendary rock guitarist and Seattle native Jimi Hendrix, it struggled at first. In an attempt to bolster attendance, Allen added the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame to the south wing of the building in 2004. Originally treated as separate museums, they later merged to become EMP|SFM, attracting a curious mix of music lovers and sci-fi aficionados.

In 2011, the Science Fiction Museum was de-installed while a new sci-fi hall of fame was introduced and the entire venue changed its name to EMP Museum. Finally, in 2016, EMP Museum rebranded itself as MoPOP with a new vision for "curating, exploring, and supporting the creative works that shape and inspire our lives."

Today, MoPOP features exhibits spanning such diverse areas as science fiction, fantasy, horror, fashion, sports, video games, and music.

 

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Architectural Oddities Repositories Of Knowledge Architecture

Know Before You Go

MoPOP is located right next to the Space Needle and the Seattle Center Monorail runs right through it.

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canuck

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penn825, sixpenny waxworks, dlc31723, Maggie Robinson...

  • penn825
  • sixpenny waxworks
  • dlc31723
  • Maggie Robinson
  • starrybluenight
  • davidklein23
  • mocchiatto
  • mathewbrowne
  • Lost1029
  • wekanz 6d2c68e9

Published

June 9, 2010

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  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Pop_Culture
Museum of Pop Culture
325 5th Avenue North
Seattle, Washington, 98109
United States
47.621597, -122.348149
Visit Website
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