As a person who enjoys experiencing all manner of travel and entertainment in Korea, late-spring and summer can be difficult times for me to gather the willpower to explore. My allergies to literally everything and aversion to sunburn keep me home-bound for a few months of the year. Heavy rains, yellow dust, and blistering heat can sometimes put a damper on many outdoor activities I would normally enjoy. For someone who wishes to remain active during all times of the year, the Hongdae Trick-Eye Museum might be a great way to spend the day.
The Trick-Eye Museum (트릭아이미술관) opened in 2010. I visited once before a few years back, but many changes have been made since my initial visit. Being kind enough to allow us to view their various attractions, I was surprised to find that the museum boasts four separate areas to explore and enjoy.
Upon walking into the museum, you are met with the shiny backside of Cupid himself, but we saved the Love Museum for last and instead went downstairs to check out the other three sections first. After checking our bags in a coin locker (500₩ for your entire stay), we rushed into the museum’s namesake:
The Trick-Eye Museum
This is the section I have seen the most photos of online – and rightly so. No matter what your sense of humor is, there is a picture here for you to enjoy. You can take a photo of yourself “riding” a bike with a pair of angel wings behind you, painted to look like they are your wings and you’re about to take flight. You can join a line of practicing ballerinas or tango with a beautiful woman. We gravitated more towards the action photos – dinosaurs, giant fish, and high-hanging pandas. With special thanks to my friend for modeling, we took some pictures of our favorites.
Many people were posing and taking pictures as we tried out the different paintings, but the area is large enough to allow every group their own space. Despite all of the open space, there is one museum occupant that kept joining our group. We nicknamed him “That Guy” and, during our hour looking through the Trick-Eye section of the museum, he scared each of us at least once. The sculpture is so life-like in person we confused him for real from the corners of our eyes and either jumped when we thought he came up behind us or apologized for bumping into him. Keep an eye out for him, he’s tricky.
The Trick-Eye portion of the museum also contains a mirror maze. It’s a pretty standard maze, suitable for all ages to complete. Walk slowly with your arms out and you’ll get through just fine. I think in the past the mirror maze was the exit/entrance to the lobby, but things were shifted with the addition of the museum’s Carnival.
Carnival Street
This section of the museum was the smallest and my favorite. I really enjoyed the circus-y atmosphere made complete by actual carnival games. A few of the attractions were free – an air hockey table and a ball toss game are left on to use to your heart’s content. There was also a shooting game and a balloon game with stuffed animal prizes, but they cost 1,000₩ to play. I think that was a fair price for what you get in return, but remember when we all checked our bags in the lobby? With no wallets, we only enjoyed the visuals of the games and moved on into the freezer.
The Ice Museum
The freezer was, well, freezing. When we walked in, the thermostat read -10°C (14°F). Inside the freezer you could find a group of penguins, a Christmas display including Santa and his elves, and even an entire apartment (including poo in the toilet) constructed completely of ice. Being a total sucker for cute, I fell in love with the Hello Kitties tucked away in one corner. Every sculpture in the ice museum was well-crafted and some you could even sit on or walk in.
When you first walk in there is a box of foam pads. Not knowing what they were for, we ventured into the museum without them. This was a mistake. If you can brave the cold all the way through (really it takes just a couple minutes to see everything), there is an ice slide you can take back to the door. Those pads are meant for you to sit on to take the slide. Even without one I refused to walk back out a failure and barebacked it. Hello, frozen buttcheeks!
The Love Museum
After exploring everything downstairs, we traveled back up to the ground floor to check out the love museum. The exhibits there are crafted similarly to what we saw throughout the other sections of the museum, but children are not allowed through this area. Full male and female nudity is on display wherever you train your eye here. You can sit on a giant phallus that appears to be shooting…well…just shooting through a brick wall. There are panty shots and The Little Mermaid in bondage, and sexually-geared comic strips framed on the walls. All of these are good for a shock laugh, but I’ll go ahead and be a killjoy and claim my favorite part of this section were the historical depictions of sex through old Korean art. And okay, fine, the peepshow cartoons were kind of funny, too.
At the back of the museum they had a free shooting game where you can, pun intended, cock your cock-gun and shoot…well…shoot all over the faces of two characters on the back wall. This was sadly broken during our visit, but with all of the attention it was getting while we were there, I’m not surprised.
And hey, remember when we all checked our bags in the lobby lockers? There is also a 500₩ Whack-a-Dick game I really would have loved to play but couldn’t because I checked my wallet.
In total, we spent 2-3 hours looking through the different sections of the museum. We left after seeing all of the exhibits, but you can also stay and enjoy the cafe, have your caricature drawn, design your own figure toy, or try on 한복 (traditional Korean clothing – hanbok). Hongdae’s Trick-Eye Museum is definitely an enjoyable day to spend an afternoon. Grab a camera and some friends and spend some time tricking your eyes.
Just don’t leave your wallet in the lobby lockers.
You can get to the Trick-Eye Museum by leaving Hongdae Station exit 9. Walk straight until you hit the SPAO and turn left (uphill). Continue walking until you see a TONY MOLY, and turn right onto the side street just before the TONY MOLY. Continue walking down the side street until you see the Trick-Eye Museum on the right. You can also learn more by visiting their website at www.trickeye.com/seoul.
Hours: Daily from 9am-9pm (Last admission 8pm)
Admission: ₩15,000 won for adults, ₩12,000 for kids
