This flat fresco mural by Pozzo
looks like the inside of a dome,
when seen from a single particular spot.
Unlike Siqueiros' polyangular murals, the "dome" by Pozzo decays into awkward distortions when seen from any other point in the church, other than that marked by a brass disc. Pozzo delivers only one image, Siqueiros aspired to deliver several images.
Other anamorphic examples:
Conventional painting when see head on,
(with odd diangle shape leaning in front)
The diangle shape turns into a skull,
when seen obliquely
Wrong view of anamorphic robot mural
Right view of anamorphic robot mural
Julian Beever does beautiful anamorphic chalk drawings these days:
(the proper view)
Same drawing seen from the wrong view
An artist can also challenge the spectator's space with both random dot stereograms (RDS) and autostereograms (SIRDS). Both kinds of stereograms subvert a viewer's binocular vision, to deliver a spatial illusion when he crosses, or separates, his eyes.
Autostereogram delivering
(SIRDS)
I am more interested in marrying 2 images to conjure an unknown spatial illusion/object -- ie, using
random dot stereograms
Dual random dot stereogram
by Bela Julesz
The 3D illusion above does not exist without both of the random dot squares. Thus, I can marry the right square with a 3rd random dot square to create a completely different 3D illusion. Likewise, I can marry the left square with a 4th random dot square to create yet another different 3D object.
I thought about creating some kind of sculpture with the stereogram pair. Perhaps one square could be very large, but very distant. The other square would be small and close. When a viewer stood in front of the 2 squares, at the point where they looked of equal size (sitting next to each other), he could cross, or separate, his eyes and bring about the 3D illusion.
What if one, or both of the random dot squares were anamorphic?
The random dot stereograms (RDS) look like
QR codes.
ie a random dot stereogram (RDS)
Could one marry an anamorphic QR code with it's pair, to create a stereogram? An anamorphic QR code stereogram?
Other objective illusions:
Distance Illusion --
Lincoln in Dalivision. From afar the image looks like Abraham Lincoln. From up close it looks like a naked woman looking out the window:
Looks like Lincoln from afar
Looks like a naked woman from up close
Augmented Reality
Value Illusion:
"The stones are placed so that the entire composition cannot be seen at once from the veranda. They are also arranged so that when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder."
Ryōan-ji zen rock garden in Kyoto
I would like to divide an open space, without building walls, but rather employing tricks like anamorphosis, photomosaic, and stereogram techniques. That way I can separate visitors in the same room by manipulating their perceptions. What one individual experiences visually from one spot in the room, would be completely different from what another visitor experiences from a distant spot in the same room. It would be like creating parallel universes under a single roof.
Chichen Itza adds an element of time to change the space. Two days a year only, the shadows on El Castillo pyramid create the illusion of a serpent slithering down the slope.
"During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the pyramid and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, creating the illusion of a feathered serpent "crawling" down the pyramid."
Chichen Itza in the Yuctan
The serpent effect observed during the 2009 spring equinox
Could we create harsh shadows, here in the Southwest, that make random dot stereograms? If so, that experience would be limited to only a few times a year, during a particular time of day.
One can also sculpt space with sound. The Exploratorium in San Francisco has two huge parabolic concrete reflectors (really just domes on their sides) facing each other, on the opposite sides of a very large room. Two people sitting in the focal points of the dome can carry on a conversation without raising their voice, even though they are so far away that it's hard to see the other's face. However, other people cannot eavesdrop from any other point in the room. In this way the space is ruptured and warped, as 2 distant points are connected in the room, to make a small intimate sound space.
Exploratorium
"The LISTENING VESSELS consist of two large parabolic reflectors set at least 50 feet apart which act as mirrors to reflect sound from one to the other. Two people sit opposite each other at approximately the focal point for each reflector, so that the sound coming from each reflector is focused at this point, allowing each visitor to clearly hear the other's voice in spite of the distance separating them or the noise in the museum."
The "only theatre of its kind in the world,
pioneering the exploration of space in music.
The theatre's 169 speakers bathe listeners in sounds
that move past, over, and under them.
"Sound sculptures" are performed in darkness
in the 49-seat theatre."
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