We present an experimental visualization of the Terrell effect, an optical
phenomenon predicted in 1959 by Roger Penrose and James Terrell, which reveals
that the Lorentz contraction of a moving object is not visible in a snapshot
photograph. Using fs-laser pulses and a gated intensified camera that allows
gating times as short as 300 ps, we achieve a virtual reduction of the speed of
light to less than 2 m/s, enabling the visualisation of relativistically moving
objects in real time. By capturing light reflected from deliberately
Lorentz-contracted objects, our setup effectively reconstructs their visual
appearance. This didactic visualization not only commemorates the centennial of
Anton Lampa's seminal 1924 paper on relativistic length contraction but also
provides the first experimental evidence of the Terrell effect in a laboratory
setup. Our results comprise detailed relativistic illustrations, simulations
and photographic snapshots of a sphere and a cube, which are animated to
velocities close to the speed of light, revealing the apparent rotation effect
and the distortion predicted by relativistic theory.