New York residents can now have their head on a plate, get shrunk down to the size of a cat, and stare into the abyss thanks to the brand new Museum of Illusions.
Most people would need to hire a magician to see the kind of tricks that the Museum of Illusions has on hand. But thanks to the brand new location in New York’s West Village (at the corner of 8th Avenue and 14th Street), you’ll be able to get your magic fix whenever you want and at the low price of $19 or $15 for kids.
What is the Museum of Illusions? It’s less of a museum and more of a fun house. There are 70 exhibits that all use some form of illusion to trick the eye or the mind into seeing something that’s not really there.
Take the Rotated Room, for example. This room is quite simply a room turned on its end. The walls are the roof and floor, while the ceiling and ground are the walls. With your camera tilted at just the right angle, it’ll look like you’re standing on your side without any apparent support.
It used to be called the Reverse Room, but people figured out it was more tilted 90-degrees than flipped on its head.
RELATED: BRAZIL'S NATIONAL MUSEUM FIRE DESTROYS MILLIONS OF PRICELESS ARTIFACTS
Or how about the Chair Illusion room? With one person sitting down and another standing up— and the camera taking a picture at just the right spot— it can look like the chair-bound person is the size of a cat while the normal-sized person stands beside them. In reality, the person on the chair is many feet away, and it’s all a matter of perspective.
Then there’s the Infinity Room that uses mirrors to create the illusion of an infinitely long room, and the Headless Room where you simply stick your head through a hole to look like you’re just a head on a plate.
There’s more to the museum than just a bunch of Instagrammable moments. The museum tries to make for an educational experience as well, teaching guests about vision, perspective, and how the human mind can so easily be fooled.
Originally opened in Croatia, the Museum of Illusion now has seven locations around the world, with the eighth set to open in Toronto, Canada next month.