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The colorful projections make for a beautiful backdrop at Arte Museum New York. 

Exploring Arte Museum New York

Arte Museum is not a museum in the traditional sense but a made-for-Instagram digital exhibition. Located at Chelsea Piers on Manhattan's west side, it’s the latest tech-heavy warehouse experience to set up shop in New York.

It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half to walk through its rooms, depending on how long you linger. The whole place is dark, which allows the lights from the massive screens to stand out and creates a movie theater vibe. Keep this in mind if you have little ones who don’t enjoy dark spaces.

Visitors are encouraged to move through the exhibition in a particular order by following the arrows from one room to another. The first stop was my favorite. Wall-to-wall vertical screens are paired with floor-to-ceiling mirrors to create the illusion of endlessly cascading waterfalls.

I was wearing a skirt, so I heeded the posted warning about the mirrors under my feet. The warning is especially important given that the whole place is designed for taking photos and videos, and every person in the room was capturing the scene with a phone.

The sounds of crashing water complement the sights, but the pumped-in scent was too ambiguous to invoke the smell of a real waterfall. I found this to be the case with the scents throughout the exhibit—light, pleasant, but unidentifiable.

The next room is full of colorful flowers and fluttering butterflies projected onto the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. I spotted a toddler having a blast running across the bright purple and pink blooms and chasing digitally created yellow butterflies.

Because this was a preview event, there were no crowds. I think the toddler experience would be stressful in a room full of visitors, given the darkness and the many mirrors. That’s one reason I think this exhibition is best for older elementary-aged children and up.

In the next space, the image of a huge, rising wave fills one wall, looking as though the foaming water will break out of its screen and flood the room. It’s easy to skip this area if you have little ones who might be freaked out by it.

A more whimsical space called Beach features moving images of whales and sea turtles that appear to be swimming through an ocean of stars. The computer-generated water projected onto the floor of the darkened room moves with you as you walk.

The space that seemed most conducive to entertaining children was a huge room with massive, colorful animals jumping, prancing, and slithering from one giant screen to the next.

Little kids will love to see their creations brought to life on-screen at Arte Museum. 

What makes it unique is that the animals—like tigers, dragons, and elephants—are colored by visitors and added to the scene one by one. Adults and children can choose a blank animal image from the sheets of white paper, color it in with crayons, and scan it into a computer to watch it come to life onscreen.

My husband and I found most of the remaining rooms—with names like Sun, Star, and Forest—underwhelming. And we couldn’t shake the thought that taking our kids to a real forest, a real waterfall, or a traditional art museum would be a far better use of our time and money.

Read this Before Bringing Young Children to Arte Museum

I’ve visited dozens of museums and exhibits with my children, and this is the first time I’ve seen an electric shock warning.

One of Arte Museum’s rooms features dozens of paper lanterns that continually change color. They’re hanging from the ceiling at various lengths. Some were at my eye level, and some were as low as my waist. In other words, even small children could reach up and touch them.

The problem here is that, according to posted signage at Arte Museum, touching these colorful lanterns could result in an electric shock. A warning posted outside the room (which you could easily miss if the space is crowded or if you’re watching your kids instead of reading all the signs) says, “Risk of electric shock: PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH.”

Keep in mind that there are mirrors all around, and the room is dark, which leads to a high probability of bumping into walls or lanterns. I read the warning and still knocked into a few of them. I’m grateful to report that I was not shocked, but there’s no way I’m taking my toddler into that room.

Parents of little ones and families with wheelchair users should also note that several rooms within the exhibition do not allow strollers or wheelchairs because of the mirrored glass floors.

Pricing, Snacks, and Nearby Attractions

Many of the rooms within Arte Museum are fairly small, so I would recommend visiting on a weekday to avoid crowds. Tickets for adults (ages 13-64) cost $55 on weekdays and $65 on weekends. Tickets for children ages 4-12, guests with disabilities, residents of New York and New Jersey, military personnel, and first responders cost $45 on weekdays and $55 on weekends. Babies and toddlers ages 3 and under are FREE.

A café is located at the end of the exhibition and features an Asian-inspired menu with milk teas, matcha lattes, and desserts like honey yakgwa with yogurt (a traditional Korean honey cookie served over vanilla yogurt with granola). Parents take note: It also serves Dippin’ Dots.

A gift shop near the exit includes a handful of somewhat kid-friendly items, like faceless, stuffed, white rabbits.

Arte Museum is located at Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers. There are tons of indoor and outdoor things to do within a short walk, since Chelsea Piers is home to a number of family-friendly activities, including a bowling alley, an awesome carousel, a little-known rooftop park, a destination playground, and more.

For more nearby adventures, check out Little Island, the High Line, Chelsea Market, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

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All photos by author