EMP, Experience Music Project was the name given earlier and later until November 2016; it was referred to as EMP Museum. This is a non-profit museum founded in 2000 by Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder dedicating to contemporary pop culture as the Experience Music Project. Right from that time, MoPOP, the Museum of Pop Culture, has organized exhibits in dozens and almost 17 of them have toured internationally and across the US.
The museum was known not only as Experience Music Project but also as the Hall of Fame and Science Fiction Museum. It features interactive installations, mesmerizing exhibits, oral histories and plenty of learning opportunities.
About the Museum
Frank O Gehry started designing this museum and was inspired to create a structure. He bought several electric guitars and used them as building blocks by slicing into pieces as an early model design. This building covered 140,000 square foot, housed the Sky Church and several galleries, featuring the largest LED screens indoor and a Barco C& led display.
Building Statistics
Total square feet140,000; footprint, 35,000 square feet
85 feet at Sky Church Highest point
Widest point at West Harrison Street: 210 feet
Length: 360 feet at 5th Avenue N
Location
The Museum of Pop Culture (formerly EMP Museum) is located at 325 5th Avenue N at Seattle Center.
Associate Architect
LMN Architects, Seattle
Access Information
MoPOP provides interactive and educational experience to its visitors. Designers and architects of MoPOP’s worked with representatives of the Seattle disabled community to ascertain the music fans and MoPOP employees having disabilities also have easy access to the entire museum. This is the reason that this multi-level building is accessible via six elevators.
Audio/visual assistance
Assisted system of listening
Audio narration system
Assisted listening system
Patrons can feel music as Sub-woofers are installed in each floor
Wheelchair accessibility
34” high interior counters Electric door openers at the entrances of MoPOP
Wheelchair-accessible seats fitted throughout MoPOP’s music venue and Sky Church
Interesting points
Exhibits covering pop culture, including the horror cinema, art of fantasy and science fiction costumes and literature to video games from stage and screen.
Interactive activities like Sound Lab and On Stage are included in galleries such that visitors explore rock and roll through instruments and can execute music in front of a virtual audience.
There is the largest collections of rare artifacts, personal instruments, hand-written lyrics and original photographs commemorating the history and music of Seattle musicians Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana.
Public programs such as Pop Conference, MoPOP’s Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival, the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) and Sound Off.
MoPOP was the first NIME workshop site for the concert and demo program, which then became on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, a leading venue for music technology offering cutting edge research, the annual International Conference.
Science Fiction Museum
The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame was established by Paul Allen and Jody Patton. It was opened in 2004, June 18 to the public. It incorporated both, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame that was established in 1996. The museum had several galleries featuring common themes such as “Fantastic Voyages”, “Homeworld”, “Brave New Worlds”, and Them! The beauty is that each gallery displayed allied memorabilia (first editions, costumes, movie props, and models) in the huge display cases, posters, while the interactive displays sketched out different subjects. One can find everything right from jet packs to robots and space suits to ray guns here. Member of the advisory board of the museum includes Ray Bradbury, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron. The artifacts collection were Star Trek Captain Kirk’s command chair, B9 robot from Lost in Space, Star Wars Death Star Model, Silent Running films dome and T800 Terminator. The Science Fiction Museum was de-installed in March 2011, and this was replaced in June 2012 by the name Icons of Science Fiction, and this was also the time when the new Hall of Fame was unveiled.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
In 1996, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame was founded by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society (Kansas City, Missouri) and the Study of Science Fiction Center (CSSF) at the University of Kansas (KU). Between the years 1996-2001, the chairmen were Keith Stokes and from 2002 -2004, it was Robin Wayne Bailey. Only editors and writers were eligible for recognition and four were annually inducted, two living and two deceased. At Kansas City’s annual science fiction convention, each class of four was announced and were inducted at the Campbell Conference conducted by CSSF.
After 2004, The Hall of Fame stopped inducting fantasy writers, as it became part of the Science Fiction Museum in association with MoPOP, in the name “Science Fiction Hall of Fame”. In a period of 9 years, 36 writers were already inducted. In 2005 it recognized even the non-literary media and retained the four new member’s quota and thus reduced the writer’s numbers. The Press releases of 2005 and 2006 placed new members in “Art, Literature and Film, Television and Media, and also categories, one each.
Nominations are submitted by the public, while the selections are done by award-winning science fiction artists, authors, publishers, editors and film professionals. MoPOP restored in June 2013 its original name online and announced the new five members, beginning from June 17, one daily. The first four were cited for science fiction, but the last was J.R.R. Tolkien, who was hailed as the modern fantasy literature father.
Exterior
A fusion of myriad colors and textures represent MoPOP’s exterior. it is located on the Seattle Center campus, near the Seattle Center Monorail and the Space Needle. It conveys the fluidity of music and energy. Frank Gehry designed the structure and this design also resemble his other sheet-metals construction works such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Gehry Tower.
The building materials can be seen in the interior of the building. The building covers 140,000 square feet and has a footprint of 35,000 square foot. Three-thousand panels comprised of 21 thousand individually shaped and cut stainless steel and aluminum shingles painted, encase the exterior of the building. Their individual finishes act in response to different light conditions and change when it is viewed from different angles, giving audiences a reminder that culture and music is constantly evolving.
The museums Sky Church is homage to Jimi Hendrix. Sky Church boasts of has 70-foot ceilings and capacity of holding nearly 800 guests, state-of- the-art lighting and sound and an immense indoor HD LED screen. The structural steel the last beam bears the entire construction workers signature present on that day on site while it was erected. The general contractor was Hoffman Construction Company of Portland, Oregon, and the structural engineers were Magnusson Klemencic Associates of Seattle
FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
World of Wearable Art presenting stunning dance, music, arts, and theater. This is the largest art show of New Zealand where they bring incredible garments to life.
Star Trek explores new worlds, presents phenomenon, and is inspiring.
Wild Blue Angel offers a look at the period Jimi Hendrix performed and recorded in 16 studios 130 songs, his musical nomad lifestyle, his endless venues and recording sessions.
Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction is to step into an alien spacecraft that is a treasure trove of images, objects, and information from other worlds. It is an automated ship, a documenter, a traveler and artifacts collector on the earth.
Indie Game Revolution features stories of video game developers, coders, designers, critics and composes. MoPOP presents an immersive, dynamic space to witness the future and present of the gaming world.