The Moogseum – a project of The Bob Moog Foundation – opens today, May 23, 2019 in Asheville, NC. The date would have been Bob Moog’s 85th birthday.
The Foundation describes the Moogseum as “an incredible educational museum in Bob Moog’s honor, with access to parts of their archive, interactive timelines, early equipment and more!”
The Moogseum will include:
- An Interactive Timeline of Bob Moog’s life and work, including personal documents that lend great insight into his thinking. Over 700 archival items will be accessible through the timeline’s touchscreen kiosks.
- The story of Leon Theremin and his seminal invention, the theremin, both inspirational forces in Moog’s life and work (three of Bob’s rare, early theremins will also be on display) which will lead to a bay of interactive theremins, providing easy instruction on how to play the theremin and understanding waveforms.
- The “How Electricity Becomes Sound” immersive visualization dome invites guests to step inside a circuit board and trace electricity as it evolves into sound, delving into the very heart of Moog’s work in sound synthesis.
- A re-creation of Bob Moog’s workbench, and an exhibit on modular synthesis, featuring a legendary modular that includes prototype modules from the late 60’s.
- The one-of-a-kind “History of Synthesis” Interactive Timeline honors 34 historical and contemporary developments in the field, bringing many fascinating but little-known instruments to life and giving a context to Moog’s work.
- The Learning Synthesis exhibit provides a hands-on, immersive opportunity into the basics of sound synthesis for the novice and advanced learner.
Here’s their official preview video:
Foundation Executive Director Michelle Moog-Koussa is featured in an Asheville FM interview about the Moogseum:
The Moogseum will be open every day from 11am-5pm, except Sundays and Tuesdays. You can call 828-258-1262 for more information.
The Moogseum is a project of The Bob Moog Foundation, an independent 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. They are not associated with the manufacturer Moog Music, nor do they receive financial support from them. The Foundation is supported by donors. See the Foundation site for more information.
Museums like this are a wonderful resource for musicians and non-musicians alike.
I just returned from a family visit in Phoenix, and enjoyed my 2nd visit to the incredible Musical Instrument Museum (M.I.M.). The hours flew by as I experienced amazing examples of music and instruments from almost every time and place. The special exhibit featuring the history of the electric guitar was illuminating. I saw a few more displays with synthesizers and turntables this visit. The gift store had a theremin and a theremini, amongst a pretty eclectic selection.
The M.I.M. sets a pretty high bar for how a museum should be done. It also shows that these kinds of institutions can bring communities together to learn, celebrate, and honor important people whose work has shaped our culture.
I expect the Moogseum will do the same for the big community of synth users and appreciators. For the general public (non-musicians), I think a short visit will expand their world and give them an appreciation of the technology and the big music people can make with it.
The MIM is truly an amazing place. I went there a couple years ago and after photographing just about every instrument there, I started taking video of the videos that they have playing on monitors for each exhibit. These videos show the instruments being played along with native dances. They’re quite fascinating. The friend I went with accompanied me in the creation of some music in the demo room they have that has gongs and drums and other things that visitors can play. In the end, it was the perfect soundtrack for the video.
Check it out: https://youtu.be/3HP4gjJm4uQ
This looks great. Kudos to them for pulling this off. One more reason Asheville is cool!
synths need to be played. they are not vases, they are working instruments.
You should create a non-profit that maintains priceless synth gear for the general public to use, then!
The Moogseum will have plenty of things for people to play on, but it would be irresponsible at this point not to conserve and preserve Bob Moog’s work, and that’s one of their main goals.
I talked to the EMEAPP guys at SynthPlex – they have the original Moog Model A, B, C and D prototypes, and those are considered too valuable to repair to working order. To get them working, you’d have to replace the original parts and wiring and you’d basically have a clone behind an old panel.