The Optics Are Looking Good

The ITMO Optics Museum is free to students and has a myriad of interesting exhibitions that will amaze even the most cynical. The Optics museum is located on the ground floor of the Birzhevaya campus. When you walk in, the museum is broken up into several different rooms each with a theme. The museum has way too many exhibitions for me to describe each, I’d love to talk about a few of my favorites--which just happen to be the most "Insta-worthy" concepts.

My favorite room would have to be the first dark room. This room is a hallway of mirrors with phosphorescent strings in all colors dangling around. This room is pretty excellent for photos and I admittedly spent way too much time in here taking pictures. You feel as if you have been transported into a different realm imagine this is what being in the matrix would be like if the matrix was also a rave. (Truth be told I have not seen the matrix. I probably should have watched it before quoting it. For everyone who’s upset with me I just want you to know, I regret nothing.) Running through what one can assume are really long glow sticks is easily one of my new favorite pastimes. Although this room is perfect for photos I don’t think any of my photos do the room any justice.

For all the optics enthusiasts out there carrying a pocket Kaleidoscope at all times — like my roommate who gladly came along for the visit -, you will be able to notice very interesting effects! A kaleidoscope is a tube full of mirrors and pieces of colored glass that produces reflections and changes in patterns. Definitely, a must have when visiting a museum on optics. Below are some interesting shots my roommate was able to get from her kaleidoscope.

The next room connected to this one was also very interesting. It has two walls both covered with interesting paint which allowed you to use your phone to create effects on each wall. I could describe this room more but, I honestly think the optics of these installations are ones you just must experience for yourself! My next favorite exhibition would have to be the one that allowed you to see yourself broken up into primary colors. The installation is admittedly another great occasion for taking photos (you might have noticed a trend by now).

The last exhibition I’ll mention in this post would have to be the heat tracking camera. Although a very simple concept, it proves to be easily hours of fun seeing which parts of your body appear the hottest. Although not a very novel concept, you could easily spend 10- 20 minutes looking at different areas of the body. At one point, we tried to work up a sweat to see if we could get the areas to appear hotter. This might be the best exhibition to visit when there aren’t any bystanders. Because there really isn't any logical explanation for running in place on camera.

The ITMO Optics museum is open every day from 11 am to 8 pm making it an excellent spot to unwind after a difficult class day or test. I strongly recommend visiting the museum. There are a lot of other fun exhibitions I did not mention in this article that are well worth the visit. This museum really is a blast and can help you unleash your inner child. Since it is free to students you really don’t have anything to lose!