MiniMACs get psychedelic at Experience Music Project in Seattle

Dedicated to the legacy of rock artist Jimi Hendrix, Seattle’s $240 million Experience Music Project (EMP) building is a Frank O. Gehry designed creation as complex and fluid as the guitarist himself. Located next to the Space Needle on the old grounds of the 1962 World’s Fair, Gehry has created a psychedelic piece of contemporary art whose interior design, which includes Martin intelligent lighting, even Hendrix would find exceptional.

The museum is a virtual playground for rock enthusiasts. Artist’s Journey, one of several interactive areas, features "Funk Blast," a 20-minute experience of music and light that is touted as the "Experience" part of EMP and the show that the founders are banking on will leave visitors saying "Wow!"

Martin lights play an integral part in "Funk Blast." The intense and energetic video and light show "ride" is a journey in search of "The Funk" and a journey back to the history of funk itself.

The Archangel of Funk leads visitors past video screens playing interviews with funk legends, and into a room showing classic funk performances. On the ceiling what is said to be the largest iris in the world is encircled with Martin MiniMACs which project psychedelic patterns onto a curtain that subsequently disappears up the iris. Sound funky? It gets funkier.

Visitor’s are then sucked through a worm hole and brought to a deserted city street where a billboard of James Brown comes to life. MiniMACs have also been incorporated here, lined above the screen to add color and more movement to the psychedelic atmosphere as a young James Brown sweats on screen.

Microsoft co-founder and Hendrix fan Paul Allen was the engine behind the EMP project, a museum, sound lab, amusement park, library and more, all loaded with Hendrix paraphernalia. Even the white Fender Stratocaster that Hendrix played at Woodstock is among the 85,000 artefacts on display.