This is partly a review of the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, henceforth referred to as EMP|SFM, and mostly a rant about stupid rules.
Update: EMP|SFM responded to this post on Twitter
EMPSFM @adambyers FYI – the bag policy is now changed as well – we restricted bags because large bags in crowded galleries = no fun for anyone.
EMPSFM @adambyers another old rule that wasn’t always needed except for certain small galleries. Sorry you got hassled and thx for sending to me.
[review]
This last August my family and I visited the EMP|SFM on the invitation of a friend. The EMP|SFM is a cool museum, but it’s far from living up to the hype surrounding it. The exhibits were both neat and educational, lots of Jimmy Hendricks stuff, the Guitar Gallery (offering a history of the electric guitar) was really cool and educational, and the Sound Lab was again fun and educational (after 30 or so minutes in there Jay was playing the drums pretty good).
The Science Fiction Museum (arguably the part I was most interested in) was a cool in that it offered you a chance to view props from various sci-fi movies and TV programs, as well as sci-fi history and the usual “did ya know?” type of stuff.
Still, after it was all said and done we were left with the impression that the coolest thing and arguably the the exhibit the kids had the most fun with was the giant LED screen:
Apparently this is the world’s largest LED screen and before it arrived at the EMP|SFM it belonged to U2, who used in at concerts and later donated it to the museum.
We had fun, no doubt, and we learned stuff, no doubt. However, our fun probably had more to do with the people we were with rather than the museum itself. The staff at the museum seem to have an elitist attitude and most acted like they were doing us some kind of favor by letting us in their museum. The atmosphere of the EMP|SFM is a stark contrast to other famous North West museums we’ve been to – like OMSI and the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum where the staff is friendly, welcoming, and treats you as though they appreciate your visit. The EMP|SFM is kind of an awkward place, and for all the hype we were left feeling like there was something missing.
If I needed to sum up EMP|SFM in one word it would be: meh.
[stupid rules]
In total we were a group of 11 people, to eat in out would have been spendy, and complicated, so we brown-bagged lunch. We had all the lunch stuff in a couple of paper shopping bags and after we parked the bags were loaded on a stroller. The plan was to pause our EMP|SFM visit at some point to go out and eat in the park nearby. Our bags would have happy stayed on the stroller during our tour but we quickly found out that the EMP|SFM is paranoid, into stupid rules, or both.
From EMP|SFM site:
Does EMP|SFM offer bag check?
Yes. EMP|SFM offer complimentary bag and coat check for museum guests.Bags larger than 16 inches are not allowed in the gallery spaces.
Ok, so we had to check our lunch bags, inconvenient, and stupid but not a huge deal. However, if your going to have stupid rules at least have the courtesy to explain why they exist. Maybe it’s to help enforce their (understandable) no food rule:
Can I bring food or drink into EMP|SFM?
Food and drink are prohibited in all gallery spaces. They are permitted in the public areas (such as the ticketing lobby or the retail store).
Maybe the TSA style bag check is designed so that terrorists can only bring in bombs smaller than 16 inches? Maybe it’s designed to inconvenience you enough so that you don’t bring sack lunch and eat at the EMP|SFM food court? Who knows? Our friends were allowed to bring in their, larger than 16 inches, diaper bag but as is often the case with stupid rules, there are people who take them too far.
My wife and her friend got to talking to a couple who were forced to check their two week old baby’s diaper bag before they were allowed into the museum. Apparently the museum expected them to just walk back to the front of the museum if they needed anything.
After my wife and her friend brought the issue to the attention of a EMP|SFM employee (the only one who didn’t act like a pretentious douche bag) he quickly retrieved the diaper bag for the couple and apologized. Still, it should have never happened and wouldn’t have if they didn’t have stupid rules that gave EMP|SFM employees the opportunity to go on power trips, which is the only reason for denying a mother and father ready access to their two week old baby’s diaper bag.
What could be more stupid then the mandatory bag check? The EMP|SFM policy on photography. When we asked, were told there are parts of the EMP|SFM where photography is allowed and parts where it’s prohibited. For instance your allowed to take a picture of a child molesters Michael Jackson’s jacket:
You can also take a picture of a giant funnel of guitars:
Besides the Sound Lab and the LED wall, those are the only two exhibits your allowed to take pictures of, and where carrying a camera won’t get you stalked by EMP|SFM staff. Stupid rules be damned! I took pictures:
These are really neat old guitars, it's a good picture too... wish I could show it to you. Perhaps it would inspire you to go see them for yourself but EMP|SFM does not allow photography. I wasn't supposed to take this picture.
I took others, I was sneaky, I shot from the hip and didn’t use a flash and I wasn’t the only one. Several other people were taking pictures, some being a lot more obvious then I was. I almost got out scot-free; until the Science Fiction Museum.
As we were exiting the sci-fi museum there was an exhibit with props from Lost in Space including the famous B9 Robot. I was admiring the exhibit when Sandi said “you should get a picture of that.” I had gotten too relaxed and made the mistake of holding my camera to my eye to take the shot (no flash). Just as the shutter snapped I heard “Sir! Sir!” and saw a man quickly approaching me. The man was an EMP|SFM “security guard” and he was quick to tell me that I had to delete the picture. “Frak!” I new that if he watched me delete that picture he’d see another I wasn’t supposed to have taken pop up.
At this point I was thinking “Ok, I got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to do, I’ll suck it up and take it.” I showed him my camera and deleted the picture I took of the Lost in Space exhibit. I tried to turn the screen off fast enough but he was hovering over me and he saw another picture that I wasn’t supposed to have taken and demanded that I delete that. After deleting that picture a third one came on the screen and he again demanded that I delete it. After deleting those three pictures a picture I took of the Yoda exhibit popped up and he demanded that I delete that picture as well. By this point I was annoyed enough that I refused.
My kids love Star Wars and I took that picture for them and this guy’s power trip was getting tiring. The picture wasn’t even a good one, burly, as is was shot from the hip. I was sick of this guy leaning over me demanding I delete my pictures. I told him I wasn’t going to delete any more pictures, that we were leaving anyway, and I’d put the lens cap on. I walked away and meet up with the rest of my group, who were talking to the couple with the two week old baby.
This is (one of) the original Yoda puppets used in the Star Wars movie.
I’m not sure if the EMP|SFM “security guard” was allowed to, even if photography is prohibited, demand that I delete my pictures… it felt like illegal search and seizure to me. Since we were with other people I didn’t want to push the issue and get us completely kicked out or worse, which is why I complied as far as I did.
From The Photographer’s Right:
They Have No Right to Confiscate Your Film
Sometimes agents acting for entities such as owners of industrial plants and shopping malls may ask you to hand over your film. Absent a court order, private parties have no right to confiscate your film. Taking your film directly or indirectly by threatening to use force or call a law enforcement agency can constitute criminal offenses such as theft and coercion. It can likewise constitute a civil tort such as conversion. Law enforcement officers may have the authority to seize film when making an arrest but otherwise must obtain a court order.
The same EMP|SFM employee who brought the couples diaper bag to them (again the only one who didn’t act like a pretentious douche bag), talked to Sandi and I. He was very nice, apologized for the other employees behavior and explained why they didn’t allow photography.
The photography ban stems from the fact that the EMP|SFM does not own all the exhibits and some of the owners don’t want their exhibits photographed and since it would be difficult to limit photography to only exhibits the EMP|SFM owns, they ban it altogether. The EMP|SFM employee agreed that it was a stupid, outdated rule and told us the new CEO was trying to get it lifted.
Exhibit owners and artists think that allowing people to take pictures is going to devalue the artwork or exhibit, which is just crap. Wake up people! Allowing people to photograph your artwork or exhibit and share it on their blog, FaceBook, Twitter, insert name of latest social network here, is only going promote the museum, which makes the museum money, money that the museum can pay you, the exhibit owner or artist, to have your exhibit or artwork displayed.
Ironically, as I was (slowly) writing this post this article came out in the Seattle P-I:
Sad you couldn’t get a shot with the original Death Star on your last visit to the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum?
Starting Sept. 26, you’ll be able to strike a pose with the relic of a galaxy far, far away — not to mention Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock Stratocaster, Captain Kirk’s Enterprise chair and every other object in the museum’s permanent collection.
EMP/SFM is about to change its photo policy. And if you ask staff, it’s about time.
Egads! Photography of items in the EMP|SFM’s permanent collection is now permitted! The article goes on the explain that traveling exhibits may still restrict photography but it does not seem that enforcing it will be of much concern to the museum:
“You can worry ’til the cows come home on a lot of this stuff, or you can sort of try to minimize the amount of potential damage,” said senior curator Jacob McMurray.
“At some point you have to decide, do you want to waste resources pushing back against something that can’t be solved, can’t be fixed?”
Of course flash photography is still prohibited, which I agree with. Whether or not a flash damages an artifact is debatable but a dozen flashes going off in a dark room would be annoying so I’m down with no-flash.
The EMP|SFM needs to update their web site because according to it photography is still prohibited:
Is photography allowed in the EMP|SFM galleries?
No film or video photography is allowed in the museum galleries. Any commercial or other unauthorized use of any transmission, picture, film/type, writing, drawing, or other depiction or description of any Experience Music Project or Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame name, mark or logo is prohibited without prior specific written approval from the EMP|SFM Marketing and PR Department. Call 206.770.2700 for more information.
I’m glad to see the EMP|SFM dispensing with the stupid no photography rule, it shows progress on their part. Perhaps allowing people to take diaper bags in and training employees not to act like pretentious douche bags will be the next step froward for the EMP|SFM.