Buy Tickets
Donate

Explore Our Exhibits

Exhibits
Explore Our Exhibits

Here at the Exploratorium, you don’t look at exhibits—you play with them. Dance with your own shadow, levitate, touch a tornado, mix colors and break light apart, stop time, start a conversation, capture a wave, explode your mind; it all can (and does) happen here.

Iconic Exhibits

A visitor looks into the All Eyes on Me exhibit.
All Eyes on Me
Make yourself the center of attention—and reflect.
Aurora exhibit
Aurora
A reflector stretches light from colored tiles into long bright ribbons.
The Bird in a Cage exhibit in the Exploratorium's Central Gallery
Bird in a Cage
When your eyes adapt to color, you can see things that aren’t really there.
Cafe Wall Illusion exhibit
Cafe Wall Illusion
These tiles aren't really crooked–they just look that way.
Visitors interact with the Colored Shadows exhibit.
Colored Shadows
Not all shadows are black.
Kids walking on the Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium
Fog Bridge #72494
Lose yourself in a sudden, swirling mass of fog.
A visitors interacts with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
Giant Mirror
Pause to reflect in an oversized mirror with endless possibilities.
A family interacts with the Icy Bodies exhibit.
Icy Bodies
Small chunks of dry ice jet and swirl across a liquid surface.
Magnetic Fluid Patterns
Magnetic Fluid Patterns
A magnet's force gathers and disperses a magnetic fluid in dynamic patterns.
Teachers discussing the phenomena exhibited in the Monochromatic Room
Monochromatic Room
Where did all the colors go?
Pixel Table
Create myriad colored shadows with mirrored tubes.
Exhibit: Probably Chelsea
Probably Chelsea
Twenty different sculptural portraits created from the same person's DNA.
Visitors play inside the Shadowbox exhibit
Shadow Box
Capture a moment in time.
Sun Painting exhibit
Sun Painting
Sunlight–reflected and refracted–paints an ever-changing color composition.
Tornado exhibit
Tornado
Step into an indoor version of a powerful natural vortex.
Close up of hands touching the Watch Water Freeze exhibit at the Exploratorium.
Watch Water Freeze
Freezing water forms a spiky kaleidoscope of colorful crystals.

View all Exhibits

Plan Your Visit

Exhibit Making
A sign hangs over our workshop that reads “Here is being created the Exploratorium.”
Museum Map preview
Museum Map
Download our visitor map to learn about our galleries.
Field trips banner
School Field Trips
Register now and bring your class on a field trip.
Let Them Grow mural in progress by artist Mark Harris
Highlighted Artworks + Exhibits
Explore diverse offerings of temporary artworks and exhibits that are as unique as you are.

The Exploratorium, established in 1969, is an internationally renowned museum of art, science, and human perception located in San Francisco, California. Its hundreds of hands-on exhibits are designed to promote science discovery.

Global Collaborations The Exploratorium's mission is to create inquiry-based experiences that transform learning worldwide. Through Global Collaborations, we share our deep knowledge of exhibit making, program creation, and professional development with partner organizations around the world.

Explo cookbook cover

Everything you need to build your own versions of the Exploratorium's interactive exhibits.

Buy the Exploratorium Cookbooks

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

Institute of Museum and Library Sciences