This is your curated guide to the best immersive museums in London which are sure to take the way you view art up a notch.
As the culture connoisseurs that the RadioTimes.com Going Out team are, we would never knock the traditional art gallery. We love visiting galleries across London such as the Barbican, The Photographer’s Gallery, and the free, contemporary White Cube gallery in Bermondsey; we’ve even put together a guide on the best London art exhibitions for you to visit. However, there is a special place in our heart for the new immersive museums which seem to be taking the world by storm, and the capital city in particular.
The way that galleries showcase art is evolving; many immersive museums use elements such as video, audio, live performances, and touch to offer new ways to engage with art. With younger generations discovering new experiences from popular culture and through social media, immersive museums are great at encouraging people to share their experiences. After all, we all had to discover Vincent Van Gogh at some point, why not through an immersive exhibition?
With the influx of multisensory exhibitions, how can we separate the Michelangelo from your seven-year-old self’s drawing of a dog? That’s where we come in. A lot of the experiences we recommend to you are tried and tested by RadioTimes.com‘s very own Going Out team. In the last year, we’ve been lucky enough to visit Frameless, the Balloon Museum, Dalí Cybernetics, just to name a few.
We also keep an ear to the ground for the latest things happening in London, whether that’s limited time experiences such as Tom Hanks The Moonwalkers exhibition, activities which extend throughout the whole year like the best London theatre shows, or trending experiences — did you know the Balloon Museum featured in Emily in Paris?
Without further ado, here are the best immersive museums and exhibitions that you won’t want to miss in 2024.
Looking for things to do in the capital city? Take a look at the best London experience gifts.
Jump to:
- Best immersive museums in London at a glance
- Best London immersive museums and art exhibitions 2024
- What’s the difference between an immersive experience and immersive exhibition?
Best immersive museums in London at a glance:
- Science Museum Lates, free
- Tate Lates, free
- Infinity Mirror Rooms, from £10
- Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, from £13.90
- Art of the Brick, from £15.90
- Twist Museum, from £19
- Bubble Planet, from £21.90
- Frameless, from £27
- Balloon Museum, from £32
Best London immersive museums and art exhibitions 2024
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
He’s one of the most influential artists in the modern world, and now you have the chance to see Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork in a 260 degree digital exhibition. When we think of the original immersive experience, we can’t help but imagining this Van Gogh one; this Digital Writer saw the multisensory exhibition in Manchester, and it’s since found its home in London.
Immerse yourself in the Dutch post-impressionist painter’s artwork, such as The Starry Night and Café Terrace At Night, with huge digital installations. Plus, travel through eight of Van Gogh’s works and their inspirations with a one-of-a-kind VR experience complete with a headset.
Buy tickets for Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience from £13.90 at Fever
For more immersive experiences, take a look at the best VR experiences, The Moonwalkers with Tom Hanks, and best London immersive experiences.
Infinity Mirror Rooms
At this point, we’ve seen the Infinity Mirror Rooms on Instagram more times than we’ve seen our own parents since Christmas. But, there is a good reason for that: can our mum and dad offer the illusion of a boundless universe of rotating crystal chandeliers? We joke, of course, but Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms has captured the whole of London’s attention, and it’s now booking until April 2024.
Infinity Mirror Rooms contains a small presentation of photographs and videos (some which are displayed for the first time) to provide context for the iconic mirrored rooms. If you’re not familiar with the incredible artist Kusama, she came to international attention in the 1960s for her creative mediums which span installation, painting, sculpture, and fashion design.
Buy Infinity Mirror Rooms tickets from £10 at Tate
Twist Museum
The aim of Oxford Street’s Twist Museum is to disrupt what your brain knows to be true: can you see colours that aren’t there? Can you always tell which way is up? Could a corridor go on forever? The museum was developed in collaboration with artists, neuroscientists and philosophers to put the power of your mind to the test. Inside the museum, you’ll get up close and personal with interactive exhibits and illusions.
Buy Twist Museum tickets from £19 at See Tickets
For the latest experiences and ticket releases, such as Torvill and Dean tickets, Mamma Mia! The Party, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor tickets, stay up to date with our free Going Out newsletter.
Frameless
Frameless is the hottest new digital art experience located in central London. Like all immersive events, Frameless gives the visitor the experience of actually being inside the artwork, and with classical and contemporary music playing throughout the galleries, you’ll feel fully immersed in the work. Step inside the pieces from famous artists such as Cezanne, Kandinsky, Monet, Dalí, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Klimt, plus many more.
We were lucky enough to not only experience Frameless but also Frameless Lates: a newly-launched late-night session which takes place every Friday and Saturday, and allows you to explore the four galleries with a drink in hand. Frameless Lates will also have the occasional artist in residence, too, for example, Maliha Abidi exhibited last October.
Buy Frameless tickets from £27 at Ticketmaster
For more information about Frameless, take a look at our guide.
Balloon Museum
This is another immersive museum that the Going Out team were lucky enough to visit, and when we tell you we had the time of our lives — mostly because we spent a good 45-minutes playing in the ball pit — we wouldn’t be exaggerating.
Expect the unexpected with this immersive museum! At the Balloon Museum, you’ll walk into various themed rooms which have all been taken over by one artist each. For example, multidisciplinary artist Miranda Makaroff has decorated one room with giant, inflatable faces, and other artists, such as Cyril Lancelin, Momoyo Torimitsu and Karina Smigla-Bobinski, have put their stamp on other rooms.
Oh, and did we mention the Balloon Museum features in the How to Lose a Designer in 10 Days episode (season 3, episode 7, to be precise) in Emily in Paris?
Buy Balloon Museum tickets from £32 at Ticketmaster
We were lucky enough to visit the Balloon Museum, and you can read more about the exhibition in our guide.
Bubble Planet
For an immersive museum which is perfect for the whole family, look no further than Bubble Planet. This surreal and colourful exhibition explores the world of bubbles through interactive rooms: from the LED Room and Cloud Room to Bubble Ocean and Bubble Bath environments, there’s endless fun to be had.
The Going Out team likes Bubble Planet as it encourages people to share photos and videos of the experience on social media (namely through the Selfie Room), which opens the door for many people to discover immersive exhibitions.
Buy Bubble Planet tickets from £21.90 at Fever
Art of the Brick
When Paramore wrote the song Brick by Boring Brick they certainly must not have been familiar with LEGO — from building incredible models in our own home to a worldwide LEGO exhibition, is there anything these colourful bricks can’t do?
Art of the Brick showcases 150 sculptures made by artist Nathan Sawaya, and these include original works such as a six-metre dinosaur skeleton alongside life-size human figures, as well as re-imaginings of iconic masterpieces we all know and love such as Michelangelo’s David, Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
This incredible exhibition is made up of one million LEGO bricks and has had 10 million visitors across exhibitions in 100 countries, and it’s settled in Brick Lane Boiler House — which keen immersive exhibition goers will recognise as the previous home of Dalí Cybernetics — for a limited time only.
Buy Art of the Brick tickets from £15.90 at Fever
If you’re a fan of the cinema, take a look at the best luxury cinema experiences and be sure to read how to get cheap cinema tickets for tighter months, too.
Science Museum Lates
Lates at the Science Museum offers the opportunity to explore the galleries after hours and take part in activities such as the silent disco, and, this month, love is in the air at the Science Museum Lates.
From romantic love to friendship, this late-night exhibition explores human connection and sets out to answer the questions: What does the latest neuroscience tell us about the strongest human emotion? Has increased digital interaction changed how we express affection? And how has the queer experience transformed our understanding of love?
The next Science Museum Lates experience will take place on Thursday 7th March.
Book free Science Museum Lates tickets at the Science Museum
As well as immersive experiences, we’ve also narrowed down the best art exhibitions in London.
Tate Lates
This month’s Tate Modern Lates celebrates the work of artist and activist Yoko Ono, which coincides with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind.
At the special evening, you can listen to DJ sets, and take part in artist-led workshops such as Wish Trees, where you can write a personal wish for peace and add it to Ono’s installation: Wish Trees for London, Tate Draw with digital sketch pads, and My Mommy is Beautiful, which encourages you to create a tribute to either your own mother or a mother of the world. You’ll also get the opportunity to watch films such as Imagine, which is directed by and starring Ono and John Lennon.
This month’s Tate Late will take place on Friday 23rd February.
Book free Tate Lates tickets at Tate
What’s the difference between an immersive experience and immersive exhibition?
As immersive experiences and exhibitions have been mainstream for only a short while, defining the characteristics of the two isn’t too clear cut. However, we like to think of immersive exhibitions as art-led, and immersive experiences as pretty much everything else.
An immersive experience is the idea of being surrounded by a reality or environment which is different to your day-to-day, for example, a Virtual Reality (VR) experience, or attractions with multi-media components such as audio, illusions, scent, and touch. An example of this would be The Gunpowder Plot, which uses VR to create the legend of Guy Fawkes.
In comparison, an immersive exhibition is an experimental art installation which presents art using multi-sensory techniques, like sound, video, textures, and touch. An example of an immersive exhibition would be the David Attenborough-narrated BBC Earth Experience which showcases videos of animals and nature on giant screens, and gives you the opportunity to interact with virtual bugs and sea creatures.
Other exciting activities to do in the Big Smoke include the best London walking tours.