Pop Vegas at The LINQ Promenade to Debut First Pop-Up Experience: “Tattoo’d America: My Tattoo, My Story” on Feb. 28
Pop Vegas, the brand-new, trailblazing cultural and entertainment venue opening at The LINQ Promenade, announces its first exhibition: theTattoo’d America Pop Museum (TAPM).
TAPM is a first-ever immersive pop-up experience developed specifically for the new Las Vegas venue. Tickets will go on sale online this Tuesday, Feb. 19, priced at $27 with special preview rates available for Nevada residents for a limited time. TAPM will host a soft opening for local tattoo industry on Feb. 28 and will open to the public March 12. Following its three-month stay in Las Vegas, it will launch a multi-city tour around the United States.
TAPM is also casting for tattooed talent to audition for an opportunity to serve as “Pop Vegas Players.” Qualified individuals will be live actors responsible for engaging and entertaining visitors. Applicants are invited to submit photos and resumes, including three references, to jobs@popvegaslinq.com.
TAPM is part “funhouse,” with tattoo-themed rooms featuring dazzling visual displays and interactive activities and part “exploration,” where global fascination with tattoo as an art form and lifestyle is examined and celebrated. TAPM will showcase 500 works of art by 100 of the globe’s best tattoo artists. Experiences will include a live tattoo demonstration studio, where both local and visiting tattoo artists will headline. Visitors will also have the option to receive tattoos, body painting, henna tattoos, hand marbling and temporary ink tattoos onsite. While immersed in the visually captivating and purposely Instagrammable environment, Pop Vegas Players will encourage visitors to celebrate and share their passion or curiosity for this extraordinarily popular form of self-expression.
TAPM selected Las Vegas as the premiere exhibition location for its tour because Las Vegas ranks second in the tally of “Top Tattooed Cities in America,” according to Inked Magazine and welcomes millions of visitors from around the world. It also is home to the second highest per capita number of tattoo artists. Meanwhile, tourists account for 75 percent of the total tattoos received in the city, making it the seventh most popular tourist destination for tattoos worldwide.
“Las Vegas is the perfect place to stage this especially immersive, sexy and entertaining celebration of the art of tattooing,” said Lars Krutak, Ph.D. and research associate, Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico. “It’s an artform not only with deep meaning to different global cultures throughout history, but also beloved by the masses today. Not to mention, getting a tattoo in Las Vegas is a surprisingly popular activity for a substantial number of the city’s 40 million annual visitors.”
Pop Vegas collaborated with Krutak, a world-renowned anthropologist and tattoo expert, in sourcing content for TAPM. An author and scholar on tattoo culture around the world, Krutak is considered a foremost authority on the topic.
While Krutak’s expertise will provide curatorial context to elements of the pop-up experience, the brilliant and eye-popping artistry of the contemporary tattoo will provide the focal point. Participating artists slated for involvement include Mike Rubendall, Taku Oshima, Chaim Machlev, ROXX and Steve Butcher.
In addition, Pop Vegas brought together a team of exhibition and design experts to create Tattoo’d America, including Iris Goldman, founder, On Location Experiences and Colin “Fred” Fredericson, creative director, Sugar HK. Las Vegas native and cultural expert, Brian Paco Alvarez, serves as projects manager and cultural advisor for the venue.
Tattoo artists seeking more information about this opportunity should email Brian Paco Alvarez at artists@popvegaslinq.com.