Pass the mic: Visitors invited to play and press ‘play’ in interactive gallery spaces offering diverse ways of listening

Visitors can play a room like an instrument, sing karaoke-style, and mix tunes like a DJ in Pass the Mic, the Anchorage Museum’s yearlong, all-ages sound and music experience opening Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.

Developed in collaboration with Alaska’s home-grown Grammy Award-winning rock band Portugal. The Man, Pass the Mic celebrates contemporary Alaska sound art and music, immersing visitors in a sonic exploration of the genres, modes and styles that make up the soundtrack of Alaska.

Spanning nearly the entire third floor of the museum, this interactive sound experience offers visitors the chance to listen to, create, or interact with sound and features music from Alaska music makers and sound artists. An in-gallery music main stage hosts live and recorded performances, along with public programming offered throughout Pass the Mic’s yearlong run.

Experiential spaces throughout the museum’s third-floor gallery include:

Sound Garden

Visitors can immerse themselves in the natural sounds of Alaska through a blending animal, people and earth sounds gathered near Campbell Creek Science Center. Soundscapes in this gallery vary hourly and seasonally.

Remix Studio

Visitors can spin and scratch with samples from Alaska musicians. A digitally projected audience reacts as volumes and beats change.

Press Play

Visitors can listen to curated playlists of Alaska music from 1950 to today at one of five audio kiosks.

Play the Room

Visitors can use their body movements to create music using motion-capture technology to literally “play” the room like a musical instrument. Tones in this room were selected with input from the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

On Air

Visitors can appreciate the wonder of radio waves by tuning into a rotating set of stations broadcasting news, forecasts, personal messages, cultural content, and songs from past and present selected by guest curator and journalist Tripp J. Crouse. A series of tubes installed up gallery walls let visitors “transmit” secret message across the gallery space.

Mainstage

Visitors can listen to live and recorded performances or watch music videos at this in-gallery stage.

The Loop Lounge

Visitors can sit and listen to a rotating selection of albums by Alaska musicians as they unfold track by track.

Take the Stage

Visitors can sing karaoke-style with song track selections, including classic tunes from national acts who have performed at the Alaska State Fair.

Rotating in-gallery content for Pass the Mic was created with input from Alaska musicians, audiophiles, service organizations, and community members, including Matthew Burtner, Tripp J Crouse, Aaron Leggett, Alex Sallee, Kimberly Waller, and Maria Williams and to the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Opening Night Event

The exhibition opens with performances by vocalist-guitarist Witty Youngman and singer-songwriter Mossy Kilcher starting at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7. Admission is free all day in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, thanks to GCI and Alaska Airlines.

Pass the Mic is made possible with support from National Endowment for the Arts; Alyeska Pipeline Service Company; Atwood Foundation; First National Bank Alaska; and Jon and Carolann Weir.