We are a museum, but a different kind of museum. With us, you can experience a unique combination of art, illusions, digital technologies, interactivity, and knowledge, all in a fascinating way.
Art meets digital technology
Our dynamic exhibitions reflect Berlin’s vibrant art scene and show how the digital world creates and influences optical illusions.
Art and science through digital technology
The artist duo “Magnificent Matter” brings biology to life as an immersive installation on our LED screen, designed by lighting designer Lars Murasch.
Experience the cell, the smallest living unit in organisms, brought to life like a movie on the big screen!
Analogue art on your smartphone
In our augmented reality exhibition “Alice in Wonderland,” you can animate the works of Benjamin Mitchley and immerse yourself in a new dimension of art.
Bring your smartphone, download the Artivive app, and bring the works of art to life.
Reality and illusion in the digital age
Tiziano Mirabella's Window of Illusions uses video mapping and a tracking camera to integrate you, the visitor, into the painting.
Become part of this digital projection yourself and be amazed at how reality and illusion merge.
Or: Step into the real part of this projection and merge with “Virtual Reality”.
Mechanical magic that hypnotizes you
Florian Görlitz invites you through his art to embark on a journey into your inner self. The hypnotic effect of his works frees viewers’ minds from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and allows peace to return.
When serenity, freedom, and security are given space, inner creativity and clarity of mind grow stronger.
Get inspired and experience
illusions as your new reality
While you capture funny and mysterious moments with your smartphone, our exhibition turns your world upside down, because often, nothing is as it seems and things are not always what you think.
The Impossible Cube is a fascinating optical illusion, originally made famous by the artist M.C. Escher. At first glance, it looks like a normal cube, but if you look more closely, you’ll notice that the lines don’t fit together to form a real three-dimensional cube.
The illusion tricks your brain into seeing a two-dimensional drawing as a 3D object! Believe it or not, this impossible cube cannot be built in the real world.
Artist: M.C. Escher
In the Ames Room, you’ll be amazed at how we perceive depth and size. Once again, your eyes are deceived: distorted walls and the lack of reference points make the room appear normal, even though it isn’t.
If two people stand in the corners, one appears much larger than the other, even though they are the same height. Using only one eye or a camera makes this effect even stronger, because it becomes more difficult to accurately estimate the depth of the room.
Artist: Adelbert Ames (1880-1955)
Colors affect how we see the world, and sometimes they can deceive you. Take this colorful spiral, for example: if you stare at it for a long time, it seems to move. This happens because your brain struggles to distinguish between the different colors.
Colors and patterns were already used in ancient temples to impress visitors. Even today, they are used in art, as illusions and psychological effects, for example in Tibetan mandalas or the colorful batik T-shirts of hippies.
Author: Unknown
As you can see, the tiles are not perfectly straight but slightly offset. This makes the lines between the black and white squares appear slanted, even though they are actually straight.
This effect is called the coffeehouse illusion and occurs because your brain misinterprets angles and color contrasts. It only becomes weaker when the rectangles have different colors but the same brightness.
Author: Unknown
The Vertigo Room affects your senses:
Although the room is slanted, your eyes perceive it as straight. And because your eyes and ears don’t agree, this illusion makes you sway noticeably.
