Illusion art at Singapore Airport lets you step into a different world

No, it's not a portal peering into an alternate dimension, but an optical illusion that is making the journey through Singapore Changi Airport a little more interesting.

Source: Singapore Changi Airport

A piece of artwork is helping travellers to forget they’re at the airport – for a few minutes anyway.

At Singapore’s Changi airport, passers-by can step away from the bustle of the shops and into a millionaire’s home, thanks to an optical illusion created from a work of art in the terminal.

American artist Kurt Wenner – who is claimed to have invented 3D or ‘anamorphic’ street art in the early 80s – was commissioned to create the interactive artwork, titled ‘The Millionaire Life’.

It will remain inside the Terminal 3 Departure Hall until November.

Passers-by can have their photos taken striking a pose at different locations on the digitally scanned canvas, such as at the top of the sweeping curved staircases – all creating the illusion that they are part of the setting of grandeur.

The artwork ties in with the airport’s ‘Be a Changi Millionaire’ retail promotion.

One of Kurt Wenner’s signature 3D masterpieces that appeared in a market square in Italy, “Dies Irae”, which helped popularise 3D art. Source: Kurt Wenne

It’s not the only piece of illusion art to have appeared at an airport in recent months.

In March this year, a piece of the tarmac at Gatwick airport was turned into a 3D mural to mark Monarch Airlines’ new routes to Italy.