Come to phæno and experience how tornadoes, geysers, anti-gravity forces and luminous gases kindle your curiosity about the mysteries and phenomena of nature. There´s something to discover in phæno for absolutely everyone - however old we are and whatever we think we know. Best of all: you, the visitors, are called upon to play an active part in determining and influencing what happens.

It´s your landscape to discover! You are invited to actively try out, investigate and unravel the mysteries behind over 350 Experimental stations in a spirit of ongoing, interactive exploration or simply absorb the stimulation of fascinating works of art to get wise to the phenomena being presented in playful discovery.

Take in our impressive Fire Tornado, which rises around 6 meters into the air in a self-rotating vortex, solve the riddle of the mysterious shadows, look into the blood vessels in your eyes, send magnetic hedgehogs on a dance, shoot a ball into the opponent´s goal with the power of your brain waves, or listen to the philosophical wisdom of our cheeky robot about the deeper questions of life.

As well as all that, we also have special exhibitions that are regularly changing. By the way: entrance to these special shows is fully included in the day admission ticket.

Unique works of kinetic art and fascinating hands-on experimentation stations – from December 10th onwards, everything's revolving around the ball in phæno!

Set the ball rolling and you can playfully explore some of the laws of physics:
Can you roll the balls up an incline?
How can you make a ball roll down a slope as slowly as possible?
What rolls faster: heavy balls or light ones, small or large ones?

A striking collection of ball run artworks can be marveled at in this unique compilation: The artist Mark Bischof, who designed the rolling ball machines in the Hollywood movie "Fracture" starring Anthony Hopkins, is presenting his work "Markrokosmos" for the first time outside his studio. From the audio-kinetic sculpture pioneer George Rhoads, the aesthetic metal track system "Odyssey of the Spheres" will also be on show. No less impressive are the wooden courses devised by Pierre Andrès, which fall under the category of Art Brut (Outsider Art).

Stimulated by these quirky and convoluted worlds on display, you too are encouraged to actively build, play and experiment with ball run devices. The large, three-dimensional spherical labyrinth in the exhibition calls for considerable skill and dexterity. A ball has to be balanced through a complicated, interlaced puzzle of pathways. At the next station, there's another tricky task to be mastered: you have to find the slowest path that a ball can roll down a slope. In an exciting contest against one another, you can see whose ball wins by reaching the finishing line last. Afterwards, you can allow your creativity free rein in the ball run workshop and create your own course using everyday materials.

Admission is included in the phæno day ticket.