Details checked: 30 October 2026, 18:05 GMT. This is a sourced exhibition guide, not a first-hand review.
Playing With Your Eyes at Hove Museum of Creativity offers a free way to explore how photographs can mislead, surprise and invite a second look. Alma Haser’s exhibition runs from 2 October 2026 to 18 January 2027. Rather than promising what a visit will feel like, this guide explains the confirmed exhibition, suggests a few ways to look more closely and identifies the practical limits to check before travelling.
Playing With Your Eyes: what is on show?
The museum’s exhibition page describes Haser’s use of folded paper, collage and mixed media to make photographs that sit between two-dimensional images and three-dimensional forms. The central question is what a viewer accepts as real. It is presented through Photoworks Festival’s Un/Stable programme, with a link to the publication Mini Photographers.
That description provides a useful approach to the exhibition: look for the relationship between an image and the physical material used to construct it. A photograph can record something while its arrangement, surface or framing changes what we think we see. We have not inspected the individual works in person and are not claiming particular objects or activities are available beyond the operator’s description.
Three ways to make a closer-looking visit
Start with the first impression. Choose one picture and describe what you think it shows before reading the accompanying information. Then look for the detail that made you reconsider. This is our suggested viewing exercise, not a museum-led workshop.
Separate the photograph from the object. Ask which effects might come from the camera, which from folded or layered material and which from the way the image is displayed. There is no need to agree on an answer to make the question useful.
Take the idea home. Try photographing an everyday object from two angles or through a simple paper frame, then compare the results. Use your own objects and ask permission before photographing other people. The aim is to notice how a deliberate choice changes an image, not to copy a particular artwork.
Check the day before planning the route
The operator’s visitor information gives five normal opening days, with Tuesday and Wednesday closed. Its current Christmas notice lists 22–31 December inclusive and 1 January as closed dates. An exhibition date range therefore does not mean the building opens every day within it.
Café Rust’s published hours are 10am–4.30pm, shorter than the museum day. Food and drink purchases are separate from free exhibition admission. Under-13s must be accompanied by an adult under the museum’s general visiting arrangements.
Access needs deserve a specific answer
Although the museum has a lift, its published fire-escape restriction limits wheelchair access to the ground floor. We have not verified which floor contains every element of this exhibition. Ask the museum about the exact display and your needs on 03000 290900 or info@rpmt.org.uk before making a journey dependent on full access.
General personal photography is welcomed unless a notice says otherwise, but flash, tripods and selfie sticks are not permitted under the visitor policy. Professional filming and photography require advance arrangements. An invitation to experiment with photographs is not permission to ignore gallery-specific instructions or reproduce artworks commercially.
Getting there and making it a manageable outing
The museum identifies New Church Road buses and a walk from Hove station. Its visitor page gives differing walking estimates, so use a journey planner for your actual pace and route. Free on-site parking is for Blue Badge holders; other visitors should check nearby street restrictions. Our Hove Museum guide has the wider collection and visiting context.
Brighton Locals’ view
Our assessment: the exhibition’s strongest practical appeal is a specific visual question that visitors can keep exploring without buying specialist equipment. Free entry makes a short visit possible. The important limits are opening days and access to the intended displays, which should be checked as carefully as the exhibition dates.
The next point to watch is any change to opening or display arrangements before 18 January. For now, choose a confirmed open day and leave time to look twice.
Archive exterior: Hove Museum, 2 January 2017, Hassocks5489 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. It shows the venue, not Haser’s artwork or the current exhibition.
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