At first glance, the Museum of Pop Culture (or MOPOP) is a shrine to iconic moments, which on its own is pretty cool—you can take a picture next to a Xenomorph or get up close and personal with one of Kurt Cobain’s flannels.

At MOPOP, you’ll find permanent exhibitions on everything from horror to hip-hop, and special exhibitions that keep things fresh (current ones include Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form and Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music). From the TV shows and movies that defined your childhood to the pop culture news dominating the front page of Reddit, MOPOP is the place to get into it, IRL.

Visitors can even create their own iconic pop culture moments. MOPOP’s Sound Lab provides the recording studio experience—guitars to shred on, beats to sample—all in the name of discovery, no sound engineers or producers required. And Indie Game Revolution rotates in the hottest new titles to play, letting gamers get a hands-on look at what’s up and coming.   

But as the world’s only pop culture museum, MOPOP goes so much deeper than that. 

Interactive exhibitions and in-person events give fans a chance to meet up and connect with people who share the same obsessions—or discover new ones. And in this day and age, that community connection is priceless.

MOPOP invites us to explore the power of pop culture—a force that binds us together as a society—and discover the true story behind the hype: Why and how did that song go triple platinum?

Does my favorite childhood movie still hold up? What exactly is a ‘stan’? And who decides what pop culture is? (Spoiler: it’s up to all of us.)

Check out the Museum of Pop Culture at mopop.org and reserve your tickets in advance.