22. May 2025
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The Outernet London (Pictured Story)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Immersive arts exhibitions are becoming more and more popular. I introduced you to the ARTE Museum in Dubai or the Frameless London rather recently. There are several of these places in London only – but likely the most visited one is The Outernet. Opened in 2022 in the West End, it comes with the striking argument that it si free to visit and well located. I visited the place a couple of times during my recent visits in the British capital and gather some impressions of the shows I saw there. I gathered them in this Pictured Story.

 

The Outernet – Location & Transport

The Outernet is located on street level of the The Now Building, which is right next to the new exit of Tottenham Court Road station. The station is served by Central Line as well as the Elizabeth Line and close to multiple musical theaters as well as the Oxford Street shopping paradise. There are multiple restaurants and other attractions around. Of couse, you can also get there by multiple bus services.

Opening times of The Outernet vary by day of week. Monday times are 10:30 to 23:30, Tuesdays and Wednesdays open thirty minutes earlier. Thursday is noon to 23:00, while Fridays and Sunday, it operates from 10:00 to midnight. Sunday times are 10:00 to 22:30, according to the website. Google gives slightly different times. Admission is free, you simply walk into one of the two key exhibition spaces.

 

The Outernet (The Now Building)- Impressions

The major and key exhibition space is also called The Now Building. However, there are overall five immersive spaces, two of them are typically public. The Now Building comes with large screens, including the ceiling. The contents they present varies by visit (which is why I gathered pictures from multiple visits). There is always a mixture of entertainment, interaction and advertisement. During my last visit there, they had this beautiful and colorful display of a futuristic city. However, there are sometimes even games on the screen. During one visit, you could scan a QR code and play Tetris against other people. It was limited to six or seven visitors and I did not make it – but it really looked like fun.

If you wonder how the place is funded – the answer is easy: commercials. There is always a mixture of interactive or fascinating entertainment as well as some consumer influencing. One time, British Airways felt it might be worth making the people think about trips to the Caribbean, another time, a perfume brand suggested you to spend some money for their profits. Or should you buy some new warm clothes? There are plenty of suggestions – and I felt that especially the travel contents really worked very well.

 

Christmas Show

In 2023, I also visited The Outernet on Christmas, which was really cute. The fesitve show with snow, happy kids, beautiful Christmas trees and Santa Claus has been heartwarming. Regarding warmth – The Outernet is a quite open space. It does protect you a bit against wind and of course against rain, but it is not that warm in the colder times of the year.

 

Now Trending – Smaller Room

Using equivalent technology, there is also the smaller Now Trending room right next to The Now Building. It can be used for similar reasons. The typical interactive game in this space is The Butterfly Trail, which makes you fly and control one of the beautiful animals on the screen.

 

Graphic Arts on Flyctory.com

Under the Graphic Arts tag, I sum up all kinds of paintings, graphics and prints:

 

Pictured Stories 2025

Here are all my Pictured StoriesI released in 2025:

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