MIND-BLOWING? Visitors at `Illusion,' an exhibition put up at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum Exhibiton in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: If you stand in front of a window-mirror and observe that your back is visible and not your face, you will definitely stop considering "seeing is believing."

This is an illusion caused after the light rays originating from your back suffer reflection at the mirrors when they are placed perpendicular to the floor and are inclined at 90 degrees to each other.

This is one of the 40-odd displays of "Illusion," an exhibition put up at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) for public view. This travelling exhibition, which began on Tuesday, is designed by the National Council of Science Museums to popularise science.

False conclusions

Giving details of the exhibition, VITM Director K. Vasudeva Bhatta told presspersons on Tuesday that the exhibits trick a person's eye and brain together into false conclusions about what they see.

"This travelling exhibition is an attempt to present many of the illusions right at one place with their scientific explanations. Most of the exhibits at `Illusion' are interactive in nature with interesting and attractive elements incorporated in them," Mr. Bhatta said.

Pointing out that the exhibition takes a person through a fascinating journey of the world of misleading interpretation of sensory stimulus, Mr. Bhatta said the exhibition had its premier at Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata. Later, it was shown at the Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar; Raman Science Centre, Nagpur; Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai; Regional Science Centre, Lucknow, and National Science Centre, Delhi, he said. After an illusive well greets you right on the floor of the special gallery at the VITM, displays on 2D and 3D optical illusions using the principle of persistence of vision, perception of colours, reflection tricks, audio illusions and illusion of senses leave you wondering whether "seeing is really believing."

The exhibition is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. up to March 31.

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