seeing home about exhibits ideas links exploratorium home
introduction collection collaborators

see also:
not fade away

introduction
"We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are."
This quote suggests that what we see depends as much on ourselves as it does on the world around us. We know that

Seeing is subjective: Each of us sees the world differently.
Seeing is active: Our eyes and brains construct the world we see.
Seeing is interpreting light: Light carries information into our eyes.

But we’re still learning about this intricate yet incomplete way of experiencing the world.

This website is a companion to our revitalized and expanded SEEING collection, which officially opens to the public on June 29, 2002 in a new home on the Exploratorium floor. On this site you can find information ABOUT the collection , a selection of online EXHIBITS illustrating visual phenomena, a set of pages exploring novel and thought-provoking IDEAS about seeing, and many LINKS to other sites where you can find more information about the science and mystery of how we see the world.

Coming to the Museum? Check out the Looking Without Seeing and Eyeballs Pathways.

SEEING is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation , with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts , AT&T: New Experiments in Art and Technology , and The LEF Foundation .

NSF
National Science Foundation
National Endowement for the Arts
LEF Foundation AT&T

back to top

© Exploratorium - All rights reserved | Privacy Policy
Pier 15, San Francisco, CA 94111 | 415-528-4444 | Contact Info