Immersive art is the one you've probably already seen on someone's Instagram story without knowing which venue it was — floor-to-ceiling projections, sunflowers wrapping round a whole room, a gallery with no frames left in it. It's one strand of London's wider immersive experiences scene, and it's grown fast enough that there are now several genuinely different formats competing for the same afternoon. We run a different kind of immersion ourselves — tutored beer tastings inside working railway-arch breweries in Bermondsey — so we don't have a horse in this particular race, which makes us a fairly honest source for comparing the art side. Here's what each format is actually like, and how we'd pair one with the rest of a London day.
What "immersive art" actually means
Strip away the marketing and it comes down to two techniques, usually combined. The first is projection mapping: artwork blown up hugely and thrown across walls, floors and sometimes ceilings, often set to music and choreographed so the images move rather than sit still. The second is scale — rooms built specifically so you can't see the edges of the piece, which is what makes the format feel like standing inside a painting rather than looking at one. Neither technique is new on its own, but London's venues have built entire buildings around doing both well, and that's the difference between this and a gallery projector.
Frameless, Marble Arch
Frameless is the broadest of London's permanent immersive art venues: four separate galleries, each with a different theme, moving through work from artists including Van Gogh, Monet, Klimt and Dalí across a single visit. Because it covers many artists rather than one, it's a good starting point if you're not sure what you like yet, or you're bringing someone who wants a bit of everything rather than a deep dive. Visits run at an easy pace and take around 90 minutes; book a timed slot online, and expect weekends to fill up first.
Lightroom, King's Cross
Lightroom takes the opposite approach: one story, one artist, one season, told across a single vast hall near Coal Drops Yard rather than four smaller rooms. Past seasons have centred on figures like David Hockney and David Bowie, with a new production replacing the old one every few months — so this is very much a "check what's currently showing" venue rather than a fixed attraction, and worth a quick look at the programme before you commit to a date. The trade-off for the narrower focus is depth: standing in the middle of one huge room built entirely around a single artist's world hits differently to Frameless's greatest-hits format.
Van Gogh and the touring immersive shows
Van Gogh is the name most people search for, and it's worth understanding why it behaves differently from Frameless and Lightroom: it isn't one fixed venue, it's a format that several touring production companies run under similar names, setting up temporarily in a warehouse or exhibition space before moving to the next city. That means there isn't always a Van Gogh immersive show running in London at any given time, and the one that is running might not be the same production as last year's. If a Van Gogh-style show is your specific target, check the current operator's official site for whether it's on, where, and for how long, rather than assuming it's a permanent fixture like the other two. When they are running, they tend to be gentler and more contemplative in pace than Frameless, with a strong VR add-on option in some productions and a layout that works well with children.
Which one should you actually pick
- Want breadth in one visit? Frameless covers the most artists and movements in a single ticket.
- Have a favourite artist or story? Lightroom's single-focus format goes deeper, but only if this season's subject is one you care about — check first.
- Specifically chasing Van Gogh? Confirm a production is actually running in London before you build a day around it, since it tours rather than sits still.
- Tight on time? All three run 60-90 minutes at a relaxed pace, so any of them slots into half a day alongside something else.
- Booking for a group? All three work fine for groups of friends, though none of them scale the way a guided tour does — worth knowing if you're planning a big birthday or work social rather than a couple's afternoon.
Pair a morning of art with an afternoon of the real thing
Our favourite way to spend a full day: a late-morning immersive art show, lunch somewhere good, then an afternoon on our guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour (£49pp, 2-3.5 hours, four taprooms, beer included). It's a nice contrast rather than more of the same thing — you go from watching projected light move around a room to standing in an actual working brewery, hops in hand, with a Beer Sommelier explaining what's fermenting behind the bar. If you want the full argument for why we think that contrast works so well, we've written it up properly in our immersive experiences hub guide, which also covers immersive dining, theatre and cocktail formats beyond the art side covered here. Staying in the Borough and London Bridge area before or after either? Our things to do near London Bridge guide rounds up the rest of the neighbourhood.
Booking tips
Book weekday slots if your diary allows it — all three formats sell weekend afternoons first, sometimes weeks out in summer and over Christmas. Arrive on time rather than early; unlike a museum, these venues run on timed entry cycles, so turning up too early usually just means waiting in the same queue as everyone on the slot after yours. And if you're travelling from south of the river for one of these shows, it's worth checking whether a taproom crawl afterwards makes more sense than trying to fit both into one packed itinerary — we'd always rather you enjoyed both days properly than rushed either one.
Gift an immersive art visit
If you're buying for someone else, the same rule applies here as with any of London's immersive experiences: book a voucher rather than a fixed date wherever the venue allows it, since availability changes and you don't want to gift a ticket for a date that clashes with something. Our own gift vouchers are delivered instantly by email and never expire, so if you're building a day that pairs an art show with our tour, that half of the gift is at least one thing the recipient can book whenever suits them. We cover more gifting formats like this in our experience days in London roundup, and if you're planning it as a date rather than a gift, our date night ideas for beer lovers guide has more pairings worth trying.
Our pick, if you can only do one
If you've never done any of these before, start with Frameless — the breadth means you're very unlikely to leave disappointed, whatever your taste in art. If you already know you love a particular artist and Lightroom happens to be running their season, go there instead; the depth beats the breadth every time when the subject matches your interest. Either way, we'd argue the ideal London day pairs one of them with something that engages your other senses too — which, unsurprisingly, is exactly what we built our tours to do.