Event 3: Trick Eye 3D Museum

I visited a newly opened Trick Eye 3D Museum in Harbin, China. This type of museum has always been very popular and I have been wanting to visit one for a long time. When I found out that one was about to open in my hometown, I was very excited. The basic idea of the museum is that it contains a lot of 2-dimentional artworks that will create 3-dimensional feels to it when one takes a picture with them. It is somewhat similar to optical illusions. The ticket for the museum is the visitor’s first exposure to trick-eye art. The half face printed on the ticket is designed to fit perfectly (for some people) with the visitor’s face.

(Picture of a girl with with the ticket for the Museum. I got this picture online because my face did not fit the half face on the ticket at all)

(A picture of my ticket)

When I entered into the museum, all I saw are bunch of artworks hanging on the wall. It seemed like a normal art museum. However, as I observe each of the artworks carefully and start taking pictures with them, I noticed that there are a lot of carefully designed details, such as shadows, that create the 3-dimensional feeling. There are even signs on the ground marking the best place to take pictures, so that they can have the best effects.

(Me shaking hands with Mao ZeDong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China)

(Oops! My pants...)

There are two ways of “interacting” with the art pieces. For some of the artworks, I just stood or posed next to it while taking pictures. While for other artworks, there are actually cut out spaces where one can stand in it in order to create the feeling of being inside and a part of the artworks.

(Me "interacting" with the art piece by standing next to it)

(Me "interacting" with the art piece by being in a cut out space)

While touring through the museum, I thought of this class. Like I mentioned before, the trick-eye artworks work in a similar fashion as optical illusions. This relates well to our neuroscience lesson. According to Nierenberg, a neuroscientist at Barrow Neurological Institute, “an illusion is a phenomenon in which our subjective perception doesn’t match the physical reality of the world.” When we see artworks with our eyes, we send the information of what we saw to our brain, where the information is processed. Illusions play tricks on our brain to make us see things in ways that differ from the reality. The Trick Eye 3D Museum focuses on this idea and tricks the brain through pictures. This is a great example of the combination of neuroscience and art.

(Oh my! Danger! My head!)

(That couch hurts…)

(I got wings!)

(You jump, I jump)

(I'm not looking)

I visited the museum the second day it opened, so the staffs are still in the process of putting up more artwork for display. The Trick Eye 3D Museum was a lot of fun and despite my friend’s inadequate photo-shooting skills, some of the pictures turned out very eye tricking. It was an interesting experience and a great example of the combination of art and science in real life. I will be sure to visit again after the museum put up more art pieces.

Works Cited

Girl With the Ticket. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2014.

<http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/9bdcef57jw1eidwacc5ojj20dc0hsjtu.jpg>.

Nierenberg, Cari. "Optical Illusions: When Your Brain Can't Believe Your Eyes." ABC News. Yahoo! ABC News, 13 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 July 2014.