Pop music in the museum has long been considered good form. There are also a number of explicit pop music museums internationally. But in Frankfurt am Main, a temple of culture for a comparatively young genre opens today (6 April). The Museum of Modern Electronic Music, MOMEM for short, the world’s first for techno and related art, is celebrating its opening party after more than seven years of planning.
A reception for invited guests in the venerable Paulskirche marks the beginning, followed by DJ sets directly at the central Hauptwache, where the rooms of the MOMEM are also located on a long-abandoned mezzanine floor. The first exhibition is dedicated to the work and influence of the local grandmaster Sven Väth (57), who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as a record deck zampano. Väth will also be the headliner at the Hauptwache celebration.
Wrangling over competences, financing problems, political quarrels and the impasse in the Corona period are forgotten. For the start, they sought assistance from the visual arts. The first exhibition will be curated by Tobias Rehberger, internationally renowned video and installation artist and professor at the local Städelschule. His colorful neon lettering “Electrica Salsa”, after a dance floor hit by the still young Sven Väth, as well as other of his works can be seen at MOMEM.
“The center is Frankfurt”
Otherwise, they don’t want to be “a museum in the classic sense,” says the self-portrayal on Facebook. It is a place in the here and now. An experience that raises awareness for many electronic aspects of life: sound, fashion, instruments, apps, club culture, premises, media surrounds, interaction”.
Not entirely unimportant: “Frankfurt is the focal point”. The city is thus also positioning itself in the eternal tussle with Berlin, where the (German) techno nucleus was located at the end of the 1980s. But looking back should by no means stop there. In the spirit of the initiators around ex-DJ Alex Azary, the MOMEM should develop into a lively place of encounter and mediation, for example through producer workshops with regional electro greats. “Consistently always with a view to a technological electronic society,” says the concept.
The City of Frankfurt supported MOMEM, which is run by a sponsoring association, with start-up funding of 500,000 euros. The electronic engineers are also expected to provide impetus for the Zeil pedestrian zone that surrounds the MOMEM. A kind of revitalization of the city. A transformation of the pure shopping street into a pop culture place.