A new attraction has landed on the famous shopping street Váci utca. After Madrid, Rome, and Barcelona, IKONO has recently opened its fourth gallery in Budapest with a quite mindblowing exhibition. It offers you the chance to immerse yourself in art – literally. The spaces invite you into 10 fantasy worlds, where you become part of them, constantly moving on the border of play and creation.
At exhibitions, concerts, cinema, or theatre performances, we are usually just an observer of art. Even though we are still affected by the experience, sometimes we crave more interactivity and complexity. Well, we've got some good news for these fellow art lovers.
In the immersive spaces of the newly opened IKONO, you are invited to fully dive into art, customise it, and become a participant in the fantasy world around you.
In the immersive spaces of the newly opened IKONO, you are invited to fully dive into art, customise it, and become a participant in the fantasy world around you.
The idea for IKONO was sparked during a trip to Japan when the founding team was captivated by photographs taken in the Kyoto Arashiyama bamboo forest. This initial inspiration was refined to create an immersive entertainment experience that allows visitors to journey to unique destinations without boarding a plane. The first IKONO exhibit was established with this vision three years ago in Madrid, and since then, it has expanded to include installations in Rome and Barcelona,
and now it has arrived in Budapest.
and now it has arrived in Budapest.
At the gallery of Váci utca, you can immerse yourself in 10 fantasy worlds, each space created by artists such as Koketit, Heather Bellino, and Kimberly Leahey. Stepping through the entrance, you arrive at a colourful jungle and slip into the city’s largest ball pool. Afterwards, you can admire Kimberly Leahey’s UV-painted installation, reminiscent of the sea.
You can also recreate Picasso’s painting experiments with light painting or walk behind the scenes of a romantic love story. In the Room of the Endless Lanterns, you can take a surreal stroll through the flickering lights of a seemingly vast space. And from the quiet room, which also allows for more subtle associations, you are transported back to your childhood computer games, with Super Mario welcoming you once again.
The tour takes about an hour, but chances are you won’t feel the time passing at all. You’ll very likely be absorbed by the environment and immersed in successive, totally Instagrammable worlds. Downtown Budapest has been enriched with a new, unique attraction, and Váci utca and its surroundings have become even more vibrant and lively.
