Planet Word
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| Established | Oct 21, 2020 |
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| Location | 925 13th St, NW Washington, D.C., US |
| Type | Language museum |
| Executive director | Patty Isacson Sabee |
| Website | https://planetwordmuseum.org/ |
Planet Word is a language arts museum that opened in Washington, D.C., in October 2020.[1] The museum is described as "The museum where language comes to life" and features interactive exhibits dedicated to topics such as the history of the English Language, how children learn words, languages around the world, humor, poetry, and how music and advertising use words.[1] It is located in Franklin Square at the historic Franklin School.
Each exhibit focuses on a different aspect of the spoken word with an emphasis on allowing visitors to speak, manipulate and interact with concepts. This ranges from an elaborate interactive room-sized globe to playful poetry written on bathroom walls.[2]
The museum was created by Ann B. Friedman, a philanthropist and former reading teacher who is married to New York Times opinion columnist Tom Friedman.[3] It occupies the historic Franklin School building, designed by Adolf Cluss, and located on Franklin Square at 13th and K Street.[4]
Speaking Willow, an interactive, motion-detecting tree sculpture is an exhibit created by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that whispers to visitors in hundreds of different languages as they enter the museum.[5] This interactive sculpture was delivered by Public Art Fund in collaboration of art foundry, UAP.[6] Other notable exhibits within the museum include First Words, Where Do Words Come From?, and The Spoken Word.[7]
Initial building renovation was completed in 2020 and the museum officially opened on October 22 of that year.[8][9]
References[]
- ^ a b "Home". Planet Word Museum. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
- ^ "Restrooms at Planet Word in DC ranked among America's finest". Fox5dc.com. 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ^ "Attention, Word-Nerds: A Museum of Linguistics Is Coming to D.C." CityLab.
- ^ O'Connell, Jonathan (25 January 2017). "Philanthropist Ann Friedman picked to turn D.C.'s Franklin School into 'Planet Word.'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Dingfelder, Sadie (13 March 2019). "A giant, whispering 'tree' is coming to downtown D.C." The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Speaking Willow - Public Art Fund". Publicartfund.org. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
- ^ "Exhibits". Planetwordmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
- ^ "D.C.'s Newest Museum, Planet Word, Opens To The Public". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ^ "Planet Word, a high-tech museum dedicated to the love of language, opens in D.C." The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
External links[]
Coordinates: 38°54′04″N 77°01′48″W / 38.90103°N 77.03001°W
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