In the past few years there’s been an inflection of what — at their most oversimplified — could be labeled as “Instagram Museums". Whether it’s the Museum of Ice Cream or the Color Factory, these so-called museums pop between coastal cities, masquerading as places of historical or cultural importance, when in fact they are mostly selfie farms. Don’t get us wrong! We love a good selfie nearly as much as the person next you driving taking one and endangering all of our lives, but as with everything else in the world, all selfies are not created equal — and 29Rooms offers a first-rate experience.
After making stops in New York and Los Angeles, the 29Rooms installations have made their way to San Francisco for the first time. Appropriately filling up the Palace of Fine Arts — which in its former life served as the Exploratorium — this year’s theme “Turn It Into Art” celebrates the transformative power of creativity and explores how art influences emotion, shifts perspectives and encourages experimentation. All 29 spaces are created in collaboration with influencers including artists like Jill Soloway, Wesley Allsbrook, The Art of Elysium, Jessica Alba, Anna Kendrick, as well as brands like Bravo Media and Haagen-Dasz.
Some of our favorite spaces included Erotica in Bloom in collaboration with Maisie Cousins. Guests wander through a curtain of floral vines and step inside life-sized pods where provocative and playful videos are played on screens. In Tales We Tell, a larger than life typewriter celebrates female authors and trying to keep the art of storytelling alive — not to mention a huge quote from queen Joan Didion. Another choice pick was Shred It. Here guests are encouraged to write whatever is frustrating them, holding them back, weighing them down, and then to shred it with a hand held cranker. Trust us, it was very therapeutic.
But this is just a small taste. To date Refinery29 has sold out nearly 60,000 tickets to the 29Rooms events and it’s for a reason — a selfie above the rest plus more.
If You Go:
When: Thursday, June 21 through Sunday, June 24
Where: The Palace of Fine Arts
3362 Palace Drive
San Francisco, CA
