Leave Reality Behind

As a team of creatives, we always try to “think out of the box” to come up with new angles and concepts. So, sometimes, it’s necessary for us to actually step out of our physical box-shaped cubicles and turn our world upside down, so to speak. The Museum of Illusions opening at Gateway Theatre of Shopping presented us with the perfect opportunity to leave everything that made sense on the outside.

This is one of the most fascinating attractions that has come to KwaZulu-Natal for the first time. After becoming a global phenomenon in Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and New York, with museums already in Johannesburg and Cape Town, it was Durban’s turn to experience the mind-boggling space designed for play, curiosity, and to capture unforgettable moments.

Each stop blended science and art, with descriptions explaining how each activation worked along the way, and we understood how it appeals to everyone from kids to adults, and those in between. As we walked through the museum, guides helped us make the most of every stop, occasionally stepping in to show us the best angles to capture the illusions. There were a few you could interact with, like the Ames and tilted rooms; then there were those you had to just stand back and observe to experience the illusion, namely the infinity portal and the moving picture. With so many things to see and do, we could probably fill a whole magazine with our adventures!

We had fun with the Ames room; the more “vertically challenged” members of our team took the opportunity to tower over the rest of us. The illusion works by playing with your brain’s notion of shape, depth and size. Because of the irregular hexahedron shape of the room, people within the room appear to grow or shrink when moving from one corner to the other.

We all know that optimal lighting is a key element when trying to capture the best photos, but the RGB room takes this to another level. As the light changes, the pictures on the walls transform into completely different scenes. Using different wavelengths of light, it shows an interaction between the coloured graphics on the walls and the light sources, revealing one of the three levels of superimposed images depending on the light being emitted.

Need expert advice? Sometimes, a staff meeting with yourself is in order. The clone room and the cloning table both allowed us to create more versions of ourselves, and even form fun shapes using reflections. The mirrors, placed at clever angles, create the illusions using the properties of the light reflected off them.

Ever tried that challenge where you have to say the colour of a word and not the colour the words spell out? It’s a mouthful to explain and even more difficult to do! Putting our problem-solving skills to the test, we solved a few puzzles. The “escape” installation became one of the favourites as we gathered to watch a team member move pieces around – not being allowed to pick them up – to slide the big piece out.

A huge highlight, one of our last stops, was the building illusion. A massive 45-degree mirror is angled over a flat mock-up of a building on the ground. The entire façade is reflected in the mirror and appears to someone standing in front of it as if the building were upright. We had fun, and some difficulty, getting into position to make it look as if we were catching a falling member, diving for a bag, carrying other team members or … Spider-Man.

Passing by the moving picture and the symmetry room, our tour came to an end. It was back to life, back to reality. But the temporary escape refreshed us and showed us new perspectives, ready to go back to creating. The Museum of Illusions at Gateway is open seven days a week; book online for your next adventure.

https://www.moidurban.co.za