Upon entering a relatively small room in the rather grand structure of the Met, one is struck by the subtly unhinged feeling that occupies the space. Reality Check is the appropriate title of the show, which features photographs from various photographers, all with an offbeat image. Each artist presents a situation that is anything from too real, but not real at all, too fake but real enough.

When entering through the right hand side of the exhibit there is rather large photograph of frightening-looking cylindrical bombs placed atop a desk containing various scattered items. In the background, there is a window with a mosaic of green leaves. All is what it seems UNTIL the viewer notices the lackluster appearance of the scissors. Everything in the photograph is made out of harmless pieces of paper and cardboard. The piece, by Thomas Demand, is titled Attempt and was created to represent, in his own image, the studio of an artist who was targeted by the Baader-Meinhof terrorists.

Across from Attempt, is a piece simply titled Hospital, by James Casebere. The photograph presents two neat rows of Styrofoam hospital beds, blown up in size in dark surrounded by shadow. The effect is an eerie one which spectators have connected to everything from the children’s book series Madeline, to military hospital beds. Another photograph in the exhibit is labeled Tokyo, Japan by Naoki Honjo. Unlike Attempt and Hospital, this photograph depicts a real-life soccer field and train tracks. The landscape appears to be model sized, but it is in fact the real thing. The photographer used a method called “tilt-shift” in order to create a shallower image. The only clue that the picture is of a real place is the motion of the soccer players in the field, which do not appear to be figurines.

The one thing that all of the photographs in the exhibit have in common is that despite their illusions, they all leave one small connection to reality. The show as a whole leaves the viewer feeling that anything is possible… almost.