Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP, former the Experience Music Project) will close their iconic Nirvana exhibit after a 14-year run on September 7 — and fans and city residents are not happy about it.
“Come as you are—and come soon! MOPOP’s landmark Nirvana exhibition closes September 7th after 14 amazing years at MOPOP,” the museum announced on Instagram.
MoPOP will host an all-day “farewell celebration” on September 6. Attendees can participate in a zine workshop, get a t-shirt printed, and enjoy guided tours and performances, as well as a panel discussion.
But if the event organizers thought that would satiate the public, they were wrong.
“What a profound lapse of judgment among whoever made the decision to close this exhibit,” wrote one person. “Imagine if the National Archives in Washington, DC, decided to put the Declaration of Independence in storage, not because they needed to, but to make room for some new exhibit. See how ridiculous that sounds?”
“Somet things are so important to our collective story that they should *never* be removed from public display,” they continued. “People from around the world travel to Seattle for the *sole purpose* of seeing the Nirvana exhibit — it should be truly permanent.”
Several others shared they have trips planned for later in September and this year just to see the exhibit in person.
“Poor choice and it shows based on the comments,” a second person wrote. “I visit this every time in Seattle. You should make it permanent.”
The museum’s website notes the exhibit will be closed to “make way for a future exhibition exploring the myriad music scenes and musicians of the Pacific Northwest across decades and genres.”
Nirvana was formed by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. (Drummer Dave Grohl joined the band in 1990.)
The band is synonymous with Seattle’s grunge scene, and credited with transforming the face of alternative music in the early 1990s. Nirvana signed with DGC Records in 1990 and found unexpected and near-instantaneous success with their single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from their 1991 release “Nevermind.”
