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Living in a digital-first, selfie-loving world has changed the way museums present art. From museums curating Instagram-worthy oversized pieces of pop art like Los Angeles’s The Broad to newer, less traditional pop-up experiences like SF’s ROYGBIV-fueled The Color Factory, the world of museums is getting even more creative.
I recently explored one of the biggest photo-first pop-up museums, The Museum of Ice Cream, with Brit + Co’s creative director, Anjelika Temple, and it was definitely an unforgettable (and tasty!) experience.
If a colorful photo from this place hasn’t popped up on one of your social media feeds and you’re like, “WTF is The Museum of Ice Cream?” then know that the museum’s site describes it best: “It’s essentially a place where all of the crazy ideas you dreamed up as a kid are transformed into real life experiences to bring people together and provoke imagination.” Sounds like an ideal place to hang for a couple of hours on any given day of the week, eh?
The Museum of Ice Cream first made frozen food waves on social media feeds when it launched (and sold out within minutes) in New York City in the summer of 2016 before heading out West to Los Angeles (pssst, Bay Area natives… the sweet pink palace is opening in San Francisco *real* soon — ticket info HERE). So naturally, Anj and I knew we had to experience this place for ourselves.
Young creative and founder, Maryellis Bunn, told Forbes she is hoping to open up in Miami before the end of 2017 (while also fielding requests to head to Abu Dhabi and Japan), as well as looking to open a permanent flagship in New York with a restaurant and spa and, eventually a Las Vegas hotel with a museum inside, and a line of products (Museum of Ice Cream ICE CREAM, anyone?!).
It’s true that this “museum” was 100 percent made for a photo shoot… so that’s exactly what Anj and I did when we stopped by. These are the experiences you CANNOT miss when you take a tour of The Museum of Ice Cream yourself.
1. Vibrant Floating Banana Split: Oh yeah, there’s a room full of yellow and pink bananas hanging out. This sh*t is bananas... B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
2. Sprinkles Swimming Pool: The four-foot-deep cement pool filled — FILLED! — with multi-colored plastic “sprinkles” is so chill! Seriously. You MUST lay in the sprinkle-filled swimming pool. For the photo and the calming vibes.
3. Game of Cones: Black ice cream looks beautiful. Especially when there’s stark contrast against it, like in this white room accented with sculptures. Probably the sweetest face-palm ever.
4. Popsicles E V E R Y W H E R E: One of the biggest jaw droppers at The Museum of Ice Cream is by far the room filled with giant popsicle sculptures that look like they’re melting into the walls. Your eyes won’t believe what they’re seeing and your mouth will be drooling at the spectacle.
5. Swinging With Bananas: I mean… what fun! How could you not hop on the swingset in this holographic corner?!
6. Ice Cream Puns Galore: Puns are always a winner in my book, and I give this Snooki Dough Hollywood star two ice cream cones up.
7. Giant Gummi Bears: Definitely one of the best parts about The Museum of Ice Cream was the life size (or larger than life) creations that you can interact with. For example, this giant gummi bear and I made friends with one another… at least I think we did… ?
8. Candyland IRL: We pretended this wall’s rule was: I see it, I want it. Sadly we couldn’t actually take all the goodies posted up on the wall, but at least we got a photo with the dreamy sweet treats.
9. Hot Pink Phones: What teenager wouldn’t be obsessed with this hot pink phone?! Luckily, the phone made ordering ice cream to go a whole lot easier. PS: I really miss rotary phones.
10. Pastel Golden Girls-Inspired Wallpaper: And I think to myself, “This is my kinda lanai!”
11. A Room That’s MINT to Be: Yeah, The Museum of Ice Cream went there and made a mint greenhouse. And now Anj and I kinda want our own...
12. Somewhere (Inside) the Rainbow: Guess The Museum of Ice Cream is what you get before you reach the end of the ROYGBIV half-circle.
Fun fact I learned after our trip through the sweetness: There are *SO* many variations of ice cream — from mochi to cones to popsicles to gummi bears to sprinkles and way, way, way, way more.
Hope all of you get to experience this place — coming to a city near you — very soon!
Have you experienced The Museum of Ice Cream before? Share your fave pic with me on Twitter, @brit.
