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02.10.18
There are plenty of business ideas that, when well executed, hits you in the face and makes you kick yourself while groaning "why didn't I think of that?" Enter the Museum of Ice Cream, where it's more of a surrealist art exhibit rather than a straightforward museum. For those of you not on social media where many of your friends and their significant others post pictures of them bathing in a pool of plastic sprinkles, MOIC is a pop-up art exhibit that emphasizes its visitors to immerse themselves in a childlike state of awe, and to just have fun. In other words...
It's not your mom and pop's traditional museum.
In fact, much of what MOIC has to offer is definitely geared for the millennial state of mind, which I might add, is why I'm kicking myself for not coming up with this idea and swimming in boatloads of cash on top of pool full of plastic sprinkles. Its self-aware that it isn't meant to educate but rather cater, and encourage, those with a camera and social media account to partake in the action. This is what makes MOIC so immensely popular because it is geared for the Instagram generation, which also is a really clever way of spreading the word to those who might have never heard of the place.
In fact, even getting tickets was an event in and of itself. Dates and times on their calendar began to sell out faster than I could have anticipated, and this is coming from the same guy who was really antsy to get his hands on a badge to this year's San Diego Comic Con. Though I have to wait until next year to attempt to attend the gathering of the nerds, I was able to purchase tickets for myself, and three friends from high school. Two of which have been dating since high school, while my other friend and I were just happy to tag along as conjoined third wheels.
As soon as we arrived to the museum, I began to center in in my creative mindset. I immediately noticed the 70s inspired aesthetic, and I wanted to capture this alongside the surreal nature of the fixtures. Not only that, but many of the employees placed a big emphasis on fun and forgetting any worries one may be facing.
This escapism is what drew me to wanting to subvert that in some of the images, where I wanted to place an emphasis on high contrast, blank spaces, and geometry. By drawing attention to the richness of the shadows in an image, and the emptiness found in blank spaces of shades of pink and white, I wanted to show a theme of the effects of what it means to place attention solely on happiness. Aside from the pictures of my friends, I figured that true happiness stems from understanding that pain and hurtful events exist, only for us to appreciate the goodness that is present in our lives. If we were to forget that, as a habit, there would be emptiness, and an unfulfilled desire to fill in that gap.
Sure, this may be something that might not be agreed upon, especially if you were the person that designed MOIC top to bottom in all of its various locations. I know that it wasn't probably their intention. I get it. However, my creative need, as a photographer is to take photos that is reflective of my personal beliefs and not to take the same photos as everyone else on Instagram. People know what the swings look like. They've seen the lollipop displays, juxtaposed by statues of gummy bears. They understand that there is a sprinkle pool, where it is heavily discouraged to take said sprinkles out of said pool. As a result, my artistic duty is to subvert those expectations and to provide commentary that otherwise would be neglected. So yes...
I am totally over thinking it when it comes to a literal place that bombards its guests with sugar. Probably because I am definitely-not-maybe-wishing that I came up with this idea.
The After Party