As the sole institution in Europe dedicated to rock and pop history, the rock'n'popmuseum opened its doors on July 21, 2004, near the Netherlands border. The museum tells the cultural story of the popular music of the 20^th century with the help of the most modern in media technology. The museum consciously presents itself as a new forum for pop culture and the vast scope of its artistic diversity.

The exhibition

The rock 'n'popmuseum, rather than simply being a host venue for devotional objects, keeps the music itself front and center in all it presents. While providing information, the museum exhibition also allows for hands-on interaction and a lived-out experience, with its corridors of sound and media installations bringing sound to life for a feast of the senses. Sounds documented at the hands of first-rate musicians transport visitors to the concert venues of the past while making the development of sound audible and tangible – all the way from the phonograph cylinder to the digital sound arts. The museum also provides comprehensive background information on rock and pop history.

Housed in the former turbine hall of the van Delden textile factory, the museum covers a total space of about 3,000 sqm and extends over four stories.

The standing exhibition in the subterranean level of the museum travels back through time to cover 100 years of popular music. The second story above ground level concludes with a topical overview of the development of electronic music and is adjoined to the original studio of the Can band, a trailblazing musical group with an avid penchant for experimentation with electronic sounds that carved out a place for Krautrock within international music history. Visitors traverse the Rock ‘n Pop Gallery – which houses regularly rotating photo and picture exhibitions – to enter into the large Turbine Hall, which has accommodated a sound laboratory since 2009, a minimalistic digital recording studio where visitors can produce their own jingles. The hall houses the museum’s large special exhibits.

Events

Concerts have been a part of music history since time immemorial. Hence, the Rock ‘n Pop Museum, too, regularly puts on concerts of all sizes in a variety of venues. Its Turbine Hall hosts concerts for up to 800 people, and the stage of the salon within the permanent exhibition hosts club concerts every six weeks during the winter and fall months. The salon can be comfortably filled with up to 100 people.

Once a year, the museum rocks it all out on the plaza behind the building, inviting one and all to its “Auf die Ohren” open-air festival.

Alongside its collections and exhibitions, the numerous other performances, film screenings, conventions, seminars and workshops held at the Rock ‘n Pop Museum all serve as an integral part of what it has to offer the general public.

Academia

Beyond its exhibits, the rock'n'popmuseum also hosts an archive documenting the cultural history of rock and pop music, and an extensive database allows visitors to access this knowledge. The Rock ‘n Pop Museum collections continue to expand as it collects and preserves cultural artifacts and cultural heritage. As the place to go for reliable information on leading figures and events within popular music, the Rock ‘n Pop Museum is continually open to collaboration with schools, conservatories, institutions and larger music organizations.

Nurturing young talent

In the legendary Can Studio, which has been at home in the Rock ‘n Pop Museum since 2007, the museum offers yet another platform for supporting and nurturing local young musical talent. In addition to studio recording sessions, the studio also hosts professional seminars on recording technology and live-stream concerts. The museum sustains creative collaboration, both financial and cultural, with entities from Germany and the Netherlands as well as solidifying existing friendships with new ideas and projects.

Crossing the border

With the crowd of interested visitors it draws, the museum’s exhibition projects and events cross the border between the Netherlands and Lower Saxony. The proximity of the rock'n'popmuseum to the German-Netherlands border obliges it to initiate projects that cross the border and to serve as a regional musical center with international charisma.