New Blue Man Group exhibit at MCNY lets visitors play their iconic pipes
Photo via Blue Man Group
NYC’s favorite blue-painted performance group is getting its very own exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. Starting this Friday and lasting until September 2nd, Blue Man Group will debut an exhibition that showcases their unique, paint-covered style. The exhibit is just as zany as the group, and features LED screens with endlessly scrolling text, an interactive camera, and their original 27-year-old PVC pipe instrument decorated with UV paint, on loan from the Group’s archives. Visitors are encouraged to interact with the installation, as well as bang out some tunes of their own.
Photo via Nicole Mondrus for 6sqft
Blue Man Group is a performance group hailing from the Lower East Side. What began as a series of “creative disturbances,” including a mock “funeral” procession to celebrate the end of the 1980s, soon evolved into a series of small shows and then into a permanent residency at the Astor Place Theatre, where they have performed for almost 30 years. The group, which puts on interactive shows with performers painted blue, makes their own instruments from PVC pipes. They’ve been musical guests on The Tonight Show and America’s Got Talent, and have even received a Grammy nomination.
“The city of New York is an integral part of Blue Man Group DNA,” stated Matt Goldman, co-founder of Blue Man Group. “Though what we started on the streets and stages of downtown ultimately struck a chord with a global audience, it’s incredibly gratifying and humbling that some of that raw, experimental, New York-grittiness is felt everywhere that Blue Man Group goes.”
Photo via Nicole Mondrus for 6sqft
“This fun and engaging installation offers visitors hands-on access to the Blue Man Group’s original instrument for the very first time,” said Whitney W. Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. “There’s often a ‘look, don’t touch’ approach at cultural institutions. However, with this Blue Man Group installation, we’re encouraging visitors to engage and play, in all senses of the word, while learning more about the Blue Man Group’s Big Apple legacy.”
Ticket packages will be available that offer discounts for both the exhibit, titled “Blue Man Group: Ready … Go!,” and Blue Man Group performances at the Astor Place Theatre. Additionally, the group will perform at Uptown Bounce, the Museum’s annual summer block party series, on August 7th.
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