The Seafoam Palace, Museum of Curiosity
Restoring a historical building into a public space for intrigue and inspiration
The Seafoam Palace is part restoration project and part creative endeavor. The interdisciplinary project is currently spearheaded by a group of artists, writers, filmmakers, sociologists, engineers, historians and more (including Burning Man co-founder John Law) in Detroit. The historic building (a two-story structure that’s on the National Register of Historic Places) has already been purchased and now the team behind Seafoam Palace is hoping to restore and repair it—since it’s been vacant for over 20 years and in desperate need of some attention.
More than just finding pocket money to fix a leaky roof, this crowd-funding effort is aiming to turn the 89-year-old building into a museum of curiosity, filled with strange and fascinating artifacts covering the realms of history, anatomy, folklore and more. Some planned exhibitions include answering the question, “What lies underneath the waters of the Detroit River?” and using the building’s vault (which has yet to be unopened for more than 25 years) as a jumping off point to examine architectural and psychological vaults, such as treasure boxes and secret rooms.
With just hours left to fund the project, the group is close to reaching their goal to provide a very strange and entertaining outing to the east side of Detroit. To donate and earn a piece of original artwork or even a specially made bike generator, visit the Kickstarter page.
Images courtesy of Seafoam Palace
