Activating Magic, Muse, and Genius

Phenomenal Museum is a live, guided experience that restores the museum’s original Greek meaning (mouseion): to sit with the Muse.

Close-up of a carved stone sculpture with a hand holding a piece of paper with the word 'scan' and a spiral drawing.
A person holding a small piece of paper with five circles drawn on it, standing in front of an Egyptian hieroglyphic tablet containing various symbols and images including a bird, animal, human figures, and other shapes.

Phenomenal Museum dissolves the distance of the modern museum, guiding you into an immediate, felt relationship with the objects that call to you.

Commune with Art

Through intuitive exploration and collective storytelling, you awaken imagination, discover new ways of perceiving, and connect with others in an “interspace.”

Activate through Ritual

A person holding two small sketches of animals in front of a mannequin dressed in a white gown on a staircase display.

Experience Genius

Through guided visualization, attentive looking, ritual listening, and collaborative play, you learn to sense the hidden stories, energies, and meanings that live inside each object.

The logo of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring the words "The Met" in large, stylized black and white serif font.

Phenomenal Museum Activations Have Taken Place at

Logo for Museum of Craft and Design with black and white text.
LACMA logo with text indicating Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Logo for Petit Palais, Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris
Sign with black text on a light background that reads "Blanton Museum of Art."

“Phenomenal Museum made a big impact on me and how I approach not only art in museums and galleries but also random objects on the streets of the city, which is essentially one huge living, breathing museum. It gave me a different relationship with what I was looking at, where I was, what was around me, a one-on-one connection with items and elements that I have seen and hustled past dozens, hundreds, or thousands of times without giving them a second thought.” - Mark Rifkin

Phenomenal Museum at the MET

Your contribution enables Phenomenal Museum to become a regular public offering at The Met and to take its first steps as its own foundation.

Make a Donation Now >

Photo by Max Borenstein