When you visit Frameless, it feels effortless. Paintings glide across walls, music moves at just the right moment, and suddenly you’re standing inside a Rembrandt storm or scattering fragments of a Monet across the floor.
But as I discovered on my recent visit – when I was lucky enough to be shown round by Creative Director Ryan Atwood (known to everyone as Woody) – nothing here is accidental. Every sound, pixel and moment of stillness has been carefully planned, considered and tested.
We chatted about the creative process, hidden details you might miss and how Frameless manages to delight toddlers, art historians and 100-year-olds all at once.
We’ll cover
- What Frameless is and why it’s different to other ‘immersive’ experiences
- The processes involved in design
- Gallery by gallery: how the experience comes together
- A closer look at what goes in to making such an experience
- Hidden details to look out for
What is Frameless – and why is it different?
Before we even got onto specific galleries, Woody was keen to make one thing clear.
“Nothing is done halfway. Every detail has been thought through.”
Frameless brings together 42 artworks by 29 artists, but rather than animating masterpieces for the sake of spectacle, the team approached it as an artistic collaboration across disciplines.
“I actually think ‘immersive’ is a bit of a dirty word these days, we get lumped in with any digital or instagrammable experience, but this is much more of an artistic process. Everything you see has been deliberately created.”
That intentionality is obvious from the moment you step inside.
LEDs, teasing fragments of colour and movement ahead. It’s followed by the Creative Passage, a calm, almost meditative corridor designed to reset your brain before you begin.
This was truly a magical moment
From the Crossing Gallery, you can enter all four main galleries in any order, as many times as you like. There’s no time limit – and that’s very much by design.
“This is a unique experience in that you can really stay for a long time, you’ll spot something different no matter how many times you watch it through.”
One of Frameless’ most important creative rules is that every artwork always has a moment of ‘resolve’ – a point where the movement settles and you see the original artwork as a whole.
“The visuals move and change, but any editions and extensions are always true to the original work. And each piece always comes back together.” They worked with the various artists’ foundations and experts in the field to make sure the works of art were always fully respected.
Gallery-by-gallery: how the experience comes together
Beyond Reality – surrealism without words
This cinematic gallery focuses on surrealist art, accompanied by a fully bespoke musical score.
“There’s no voiceover because we wanted it to be universal – anyone from anywhere can enjoy the experience, it doesn’t matter what language you speak.”
Mirrors line the edges of the gallery – a nod to surrealist symbolism – stretching the artwork even further and playing with reflections... they also happen to make for some striking photo ops.
My personal highlight here was the underwater sequence inspired by The Dawn of Venus by Thomas Lowinsky – hypnotic and calming, this one felt truly magical.
This felt like all my childhood mermaid dreams came true
Colour in Motion – where adults rediscover how to play
This impressionist-focused gallery features the now-famous interactive floor, which Woody tells me is “made up of around two million pixels and uses entirely custom programming.”
Fragments of paintings fall to the floor, scatter as you move through them, then reassemble on the walls.
“Children always love the floor, but adults do too – sometimes adults just need more encouragement to play.”
The music here is also custom-composed, often reflecting what’s happening in the artwork – birds can be heard chirping in a landscape, or distant French voices in a cafe scene.
The World Around Us – stepping inside landscapes
Woody tells me how this gallery uses 360º projection and spatial audio to place you within famous landscapes – think The Wave, Victorian London, Almond Blossom.
One standout is Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee – complete with creaking wood and crashing waves.
“This one really stands out for people... and it's a special one as this is the only place you can see it right now.” Woody explains that the original was stolen in 1990 and has so far not been recovered.
This moment genuinely gives you such a thrill of anticipation
The Art of Abstraction – what would a painting sound like?
This gallery feels the most contemporary, with sheer screens, layered projections and a maze-like layout you can walk through.
“The idea behind the music here was: if this piece could make a sound, what would it sound like?”
Some artists were easier to translate than others.
“Kandinsky was easy, he loved jazz himself, his work has these funky abstract shapes – it just makes sense.” And I can’t help but agree as the abstract motifs jumble and jump around to the disjointed chords.
The result is dynamic, surprising, and very different depending on where you stand and how you move through the space.
Music, movement and movie-level production
One of the most surprising takeaways from our chat was just how many people are involved in creating Frameless.
“It takes a lot more people than you’d think, we had specialist visual effects teams for different elements, like a whole fire team, a water team. For the Rembrandt scene alone, there were around 70 people creating that.”
And these teams are at the top of their field. “These are the same people who are working on Hollywood movies, like Marvel, Harry Potter,” he tells me.
The full experience took around two years to create, with teams even using VR headsets to visualise galleries while the building itself was still under construction. And the work is never done; two of the Galleries The World Around Us and Beyond Reality, have even been completely reimagined since the original launch, with new artworks being introduced.
You can see how this style lends itself to Jazz
Hidden details you might miss
Even after multiple viewings, there’s more to spot. I ask Woody what people might miss.
“There are so many little details, you could watch it over and over and still see something new.” He explains, but he gives me a few of his fave moments to look out for:
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Jack the Ripper’s shadow attacking in Grimshaw’s Victorian London
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Lovers glimpsed through a window in Canaletto’s Venice
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A very literal “floor is lava” effect beneath Vesuvius in eruption
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Animals emerging from the foliage in Rousseau’s jungle paintings
It’s one of the reasons Frameless rewards patience – and repeat visits – you could sit watching the experience through fully a hundred times and still spot new tiny details each time.
Keep your eyes peeled!
Why Frameless works
What really stuck with me from my visit – and my conversation with Woody – is how human Frameless feels, despite its scale and technology.
“You’ll see babies crawling around one gallery, then go into another room and find 90- or 100-year-olds dancing or sitting together enjoying the landscapes.”
Everyone takes something different away. Even people who don’t think they like art.
And that, more than any projection or soundtrack, as stunning and impressive as they are, feels like Frameless’ biggest achievement.
Enjoyed this spiffing spot of London?
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