WNDR museum was recommended to us before our visit to Boston and we were told that our teenage kids would love its Instagram appeal, so this was one of the places on our itinerary that we were looking forward to checking out.
Located in the downtown crossing area of Boston, WNDR Boston is a permanent art and tech exhibition and the latest location to open after Chicago and San Diego. I really didn’t know what to expect and thought it would be similar to one of the many other “immersive art” experiences that can now be found at many cities across the world, but this was different and felt more of a multi-dimensional journey using a clever blend of art and cutting-edge interactive technology.
From the exterior WNDR looks like a typical shopfront, but inside we found a 17,000 square foot interactive walkthrough filled with 20+ interactive exhibits with technological and multi-sensory displays that kept all the family entertained. Upon entering the museum, there is a gift shop, café and after dropping off our coats in the cloakroom we were ready for our WNDR experience.
Our one hour long journey started at the “Light Floor” a surreal passageway full of lights, mirrors and motion-activated sensors, lighting the floor as we made each step giving us all the feeling that we were being transported to another multi-dimensional world, this was one of our first of many selfie spots.
There are a series of rooms and spaces to explore, some of our favourites were creating patterns on the illuminated wall and the Wisdom Project, where we could share and learn wisdom with other visitors.
The spectacular “insideout” 360-degree video, light and sound experience by artist Leigh Sachwitz which created the feeling of sheltering in a garden shed during a thunderstorm in Glasgow, Scotland.
Other areas that stood out was the immersive theatre, showing projections of interactive lights on three walls and the floor along with “colour and light” where we were surrounded by every colour of the rainbow.
There was also really cool innovative AI technology on display here and in particular the “Untitled, by You” exhibit. This allows visitors to use text based descriptions using an AI program called Stable Diffusion, to create a unique gallery of the vision that we entered at the text prompt.
The main attraction at WNDR Boston is the incredible “Let’s Survive Forever” installation created by renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Only 8 guests at a time are allowed in this room and we had to put a cloth cover over our shoes because of the fragility of this exhibit.
Inside we found a spectacular room filled with mirrors and stainless steel balls where we could look but not touch – it’s the only part of the experience that wasn’t interactive but it did create amazing photo opportunities, the only downside was that you are restricted to under a minute in this space, which was not long enough.
The rest of the museum is filled with a combination of experiential physical art and technology with lots of hands on experiences and endless selfie opportunities – there was even a classic Zoltar machine to try out.
Overall
This is a really cool and unique place to experience and if you are looking for something completely different to do with the family in Boston, it’s worth visiting. For the latest opening times and to book tickets visit the WNDR Boston website