New Yorker’s new favorite way to beat the summer heat? The Museum of Ice Cream, a pop-up institution that fulfills all your childhood dreams and happens to be located just across the street from the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since opening July 29, it has become an Instagram sensation.
The trendy spot features specially-commissioned ice cream-themed works from 30 artists, “curated by a collective of ice cream obsessed designers, artists, and friends,” according to the official website. Unlike more traditional museums, however, the Museum of Ice Cream’s website estimates that a full visit takes only 20 or so minutes to complete.
“A museum in our opinion celebrates creativity, passion, history, innovators and innovations and we created the Museum of Ice Cream in this spirit,” writes the institution in its FAQ, admitting that it is not an official museum. “We are built upon the foundation of sharing and celebrating ice cream.”
The popularity of the pseudo-museum recalls last year’s Museum of Feelings, which convinced thousands of New Yorkers to wait in line in for hours—in December, no less—for what essentially amounted to a cleverly-masked advertisement for Glade scented candles.
Among the attractions at the Museum of Ice Cream are a swimming pool full of 11,000 pounds of fake rainbow sprinkles, playground rides like an ice cream scoop seesaw, the chance to help build a massive ice cream sundae, an entire wall covered in waffled cones, and a “chocolate chamber” with a chocolate fountain and beanbag seating that visitors enter through a brown curtain.
Maryellis Bunn, who co-founded the offbeat institution with boyfriend Manish Vora, described it to the Associated Press as “a lick-able, likable ice-cream-centric experience.” The founders teamed up with dating app Tinder to create “Tinder Land,” with a special app that allows visitors to “discover their true flavor match” onsite.
The “museum” runs through September 1. Tickets cost $18 a person, and sold out within just five days—even with 30,000 tickets available. The hefty entry fee is only $4 less than the Whitney, but comes with ice cream from food scientist Irwin Adam. Local favorites such as Blue Marble, OddFellows Ice Cream Co., and the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory are also participating in a “Scoop of the Week” program.
See more Instagram shots of the Museum of Ice Cream below.
The Museum of Ice Cream is at 100 Gansevoort St, from July 29–September 1, 2016. Hours of operation are Monday, Wednesday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.