Instagram-friendly Chicago pop-up will feature weightless ball pit, Yayoi Kusama installation

A new art and science pop-up museum is opening in Chicago next month, with plans for an interactive range of exhibits that are firmly within the zeitgeist of the Instagram art experience.

With a mission to "inspire curiosity" by highlighting the wonder of the natural world, the wndr (pronounced "wonder") museum will feature 20 "experiences" throughout a 45-minute tour in a playful, immersive atmosphere featuring works by contemporary artists.

Its most famous work is no doubt Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room called "Let's Survive Together"; this will be the first time one of Kusama's more than 20 such works will be shown in Chicago.

The museum experience will start with an exploration of elements that are smaller in scale than humans -- such as cells and sub-atomic particles -- then move on to things that are much larger, such as the phenomenon of gravity. Kusama's work will feature in the final section, devoted to infinity.

Among the ten rooms commissioned exclusively for the exhibition, there will be a zero-gravity ball pit that reimagines the children's favorite in the weightlessness of outer space, and a three-story kinetic sculpture said to "move from one element of the universe to another."

Edible experiences are also a part of the museum visit, and each visitor will be offered two tastes from a rotating menu. Among offerings, Future Food Studio from Toronto will present a prototype that allows for any food or flavor to be transformed into a cloud; guests will be able to taste clouds in bubble gum and Chicago-style hot dog flavors, among others.

The wndr museum opens to the public in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood on August 17 for a limited but as-yet-undetermined amount of time. Tickets are on sale as of this week; find out more at www.wndrmuseum.com.