
You would be forgiven for doing a double-take when you see these fascinating images.

It seems as if groups of people are submersed, fully clothed, in a swimming pool.

But all is not what it seems. This is actually an optical illusion created by 10cm of water being housed between two sheets of transparent glass.

The mystical illusion was created by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich and is a part of a permanent exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan

The clever illusion is created using 10cm of water being housed between two sheets of transparent glass

The trapped water confuses people's senses as they gaze down, with visitors clearly mesmerised by what they're looking at

Visitors can either stroll into the swimming pool - an empty room - and gaze up at the rippling water effect, or look down from above.

The incredible concept was created by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich and is a part of a permanent exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan.

The exhibition website says: 'While undermining our everyday assumptions about what we think to be obvious, the work invites our active involvement in its spaces - once we catch on to its deception - and produces a sense of connection between people looking at each other.'

Optical illusion: You would be forgiven for doing a double-take when you see these fascinating images of visitors in this unique swimming pool

Ffully-clothed guests appear like they are floating beneath the surface of a seemingly full pool

The concept is not the most recent Buenos Aires-based Erlich, who installed the Swimming Pool in 1999 in temporary exhibitions at New York's MoMAPS1 and the Venice Biennale, has created.

In 2013 the artist installed an illusion of a classic late-Victorian façade on an everyday street in east London.

Through the use of a giant mirror, guests could take photographs as though they were dangling and climbing up the side of the houses.

The concept is not the most recent Buenos Aires-based Erlich (left), who installed the Swimming Pool (right) in 1999 in temporary exhibitions at New York's MoMAPS1 and the Venice Biennale, has created