(9 Aug 2019) LEAD IN:
A new pop-up museum dedicated to cannabis has now opened in Los Angeles with a priority on teaching, education and social justice.
The Weedmaps Museum of Weed is an exploration into the world of cannabis throughout history.
STORY-LINE:
Visitors at this museum are in for a trippy experience, chock full of color and instagrammable moments.
The Weedmaps Museum of Weed is a trip down memory lane all the way to present day.
It's a large-scale pop-up exhibition of seven well thought out, unfiltered and chronological exhibits exploring cannabis, also known as marijuana, throughout history from prohibition to today's legalization.
Weedmaps, a technology and software infrastructure provider to the cannabis industry, headquarterd in Irvine, California opened the museum, assisted by LA-based global creative agency VIRTUE.
Organizers say the goal is to combat the stigma associated with cannabis to help shed light on social justice issues surrounding marijuana.
The 30,000 square-foot museum is meticulously curated with interactive exhibits, art institutions, historical artifacts and more aiming to shed light on the tie between cannabis prohibition and racially disparate policies in hopes of driving advocacy and reform.
The exhibit covers cannabis by moving through the many varied locations and periods with archival displays on where and when it has been consumed.
Madelaine Donegan, Executive Director of Weedmaps Museum of Weed, says the museum is not a novelty pop up but rather a substantial learning experience.
"The Weedmaps Museum of Weed was created to combat the stigma associated around cannabis and really to shed light on some of the social injustices that have resulted as a product of prohibition," Donegan says.
"Although there are a lot of photo opportunities and Instagrammable moments, we really took a strong interest in providing an educational and informative experience including a lot of artifacts, interactive exhibits and art installations," she adds.
"Pre-Prohibition" - Exhibit 1 opens the museum.
It depicts the early history of the many uses of cannabis and hemp over the centuries.
Clothing and materials made of hemp over history, such as a Samurai warrior armor from 1600-1880's Japan with hemp underlining, antique cannabis and hemp medicinal bottles from early 1900's, and ancient Greek medical plants book from AD 50-70 translated into French are on display.
What follows is a wild room of mirrors and hallways filled with comics from ceiling to floor and historical photos on walls.
It includes a photo of the first man arrested for selling cannabis cigarettes in the US.
"Counterculture Revolution" - Exhibit 3 explores cannabis' journey into the fabric of the 60's, from the hippie culture to activism.
Another room is filled with walls of historical posters, photographs and prints of the anti-Vietnam war movement of the 1960's.
"Behind Closed Doors" - Exhibit 4 takes visitors to the start of the war on drugs, when US President Richard Nixon introduced the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.
Mannequins with TV set heads show Nixon in one set and a pro-marijuana activists placed facing the other in debate in archive news footage.
Next door, manequins holding guns show the force used in those years and photos of people in prison for non-violent marijuana crimes come to life with narration by the prisoners themselves.
Visitors can sign petitions to shorten their sentences.
Julie Stein is the exhibition's Executive Director on behalf of VIRTUE.
The Weedmaps Museum of Weed is open until September 29, 2019.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
