Pop-Up Selfie Museum Explores The Art Of The Selfie

GLENDALE, CA — You might call it a tribute to the art of self-admiration.

The Museum of Selfies, an interactive gallery devoted to ubiquitous smartphone self-portrait, will open to the public Sunday for a two-month engagement in Glendale.

The pop-up museum -- showcasing more than a dozen exhibits and categories such as the bathroom-mirror pic and the food selfie -- aims to explore the history and cultural impact of the selfie.

Museum co-founder Tommy Honton said the roots of the social media phenomenon date back to the most ancient and primal aspects of our species.

"We tried to avoid making the museum about the surface value of selfies and more about the selfie phenomenon embraced by the human race and how universal it is," Honton said.

The museum will spotlight the pics of David J. Slater, who devised the viral ``monkey selfie" -- itself the subject of a copyright dispute -- as well as Riccardo Scalise's ``Mr. Selfie" self-portraits taken with some of the most famous people in cyberspace.

And while other museums -- and Disneyland and the Cannes Film Festival -- have banned them, selfie sticks aren't just allowed inside the gallery, they're encouraged.

The museum, 211 N. Brand Blvd., will be open Wednesday through Sunday for two months. Tickets, at $25 each, are available at www.themuseumofselfies.com.

City News Service; Photo: "bathroom-mirror pic" courtesy of spin public relations for the Museum of Selfies