Trick Eye and Ice Museum Hongdae

On my first visit to Seoul I decided to go see the Trick Eye and Ice museum in Hongdae.

The Trickeye Museum is an art gallery with paintings created using ‘trompe l’oeil’ techniques that give each 2D art piece the illusion of being in 3D. Instead of merely viewing paintings (as in a typical art gallery) visitors can interact with the paintings, posing themselves just right so that they look as if they are part of the original work. To ensure that even its busiest patrons have time to enjoy the fun, the museum stays open each day until 9PM, making it a popular date and hang-out place.

Outside of the main exhibition hall is a main square that is decorated like the Santorini in Greece. In addition to classy fountains and decorations, the main square is also home to the museum café, ‘Café Santorini,’ which serves up scrumptious organic coffee and other beverages.

In the same center is the Love Museum which is also worth a visit (I’ll soon post a blog about that here).

It is best to go with 3 or more people. Two people were good but for some of the photos where we both wanted to be in we had to ask someone else to take the photo with us.

I would recommend going as early as possible as it really does get busy and there ends up being quite the line for some of the photos.

I really enjoyed myself as it was something different to do and my first times seeing something like this. Some of my friends thought it was a bit boring and that there would be more interaction.

The trick eye museum is not the most interactive museum, for more interactions you need to go to the Alive Museum in Insadong (still on my to do list).

The Ice Museum is just across from the Trick Eye museum. It is fairly small and also gets busy with lines to go in depending on the time you get there. It isn’t very big but you can take some good pics and go down the ice slope.

There is a voucher you can download here that gives you a discount to get in to both museums. The website can also be seen here.

Here is a map to get to the Trick Eye Museum. You might also accidentally walk past the entrance if you are not looking out as it is just a small entrance that takes you down the stairs to the Museum which is underground.