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Sometimes the coolest summer experiences aren’t found while bathing at the beach or floundering in a swimming pool. Instead, they’re in a museum — and it’s not just because of the air conditioning.
There’s some really awesome museum-going stuff out there these days, including tours and events designed specifically for the fast-fix, digital-age crowd. They’re renegade, interactive adventures that bring scavenger hunts, murder mysteries, Victorian cosplay and foodie fests to a museum setting, so guests can explore galleries in an entirely new way.
In short, they’re a-museum-azing! Here are just a few to get you started.
Out of the box
Several tour groups have sprung to life in recent years, taking guests on unusually-themed, fast-paced trips through classic museums from San Francisco to New York. They’re not always cheap, but they make for fun group outings, creative dates or even outside-the-box birthday and bachelorette parties.
Geared, organizers say, toward “people who don’t like museums” — as well as those who love them — Museum Hack takes guests on rollicking, edgy, speed-walking public tours at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The “Un-Highlights” tour ($49 for a two-hour visit) exposes behind-the-canvas tales about famous painters or works of art that would make your grandmother’s audio tour blush. Who knew, for example, that James Whistler, of Whistler’s Mother fame, trolled his nemesis via art, turning his adversary into a hideous peacock man for all eternity?
Museum Hack also offers a version with a feminist bent. Dubbed the “Badass Bitches,” the tour celebrates awesome female artists, subjects and stories. Among other things, you’ll learn about the dreamy portrait of Dorothy Spreckels Munn, the first full-length portrait Salvador Dali ever did. These tours, designed for ages 16 and older, sell out fast, so book in advance; www.museumhack.com.
Prefer a little mystery? Watson Adventures offers dozens of themed scavenger hunts and murder-mystery events around the bay. You don’t scavenge to collect actual things – instead, you’re given fun, tricky questions and sent off to find answers throughout a museum. The family-friendly Wizard School Hunt at the Legion of Honor, for example, sends visitors scurrying in search of Harry Potter-related serpents, potions, swords or Dumbledore lookalikes in classic paintings.
But most of Watson’s tours are designed for adults, including a Fright at the Museum hunt that takes guests on an ominous adventure at the de Young, searching for human skulls, a cathedral made of ammo and shamans with superpowers. In Computer History Museum Madness, you race through the Mountain View museum to track down Alan Turing trivia or consult an ancient Incan computer. And the Murder at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose yields a trail of clues that takes you through the mummy’s tomb.
There are murdered curators and poisoned victims at other museums, as well, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Legion of Honor and the de Young. Most adventures last about two hours and prices vary; www.watsonadventures.com.
In the box
Of course, museums offer their own cool experiences, too. You may be surprised to find myriad madcap events at your favorite museums. Here are just a few:
Play dress up at the Legion of Honor! In conjunction with its “Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters” exhibition, the San Francisco museum has planned a “Victorian Visions: Nineteenth-Century Costume Day” on Aug. 25, 2018. Come in period garb, obviously. And if you have ravishing red hair, real or faux, pretend you’re Rossetti or Titian’s muse, pose for a portrait or enter the Victorian hairstyle photo contest. Redheads or those in costume will get $5 off admission to the exhibition all day long; www.legionofhonor.famsf.org.
Creative adventures abound year round at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, from events like mochi pounding to a K-Fashion Bash for tweens celebrating modern Korean couture. And the museum’s 2018 Tasting Menu series explores the crossroads of gastronomy, culture and art, most recently with “Tasting Menu: Chef’s Hawker Centre Festival,” which was hosted by “Top Chef” contestant Tu David Phu last July. Find details at www.asianart.org.
The Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive’s monthly “Five Tables” event may not be wild and renegade, but these events let visitors get a close-up, hands-on look at rare and oddball treasures in the fine-art collection. There’s always a different theme, from extra-extra-small art to tea culture. Last month, it was “Five Tables of … Food, Glorious Food,” unearthing things like a rarely seen 1877 hanging scroll by the Japanese literati artist Tomioka Tessai titled “Vegetables and Grasshopper.” They’re held on the first Thursday of each month, when BAMPFA admission is free. Find more details at bampfa.org/program/five-tables.
