What do you see in the mirror?
{ Sight }
When you use this hands-on exhibit…you’ll place some puzzle pieces around a column-shaped or cone-shaped mirror. The puzzle pieces seem to look smeared or warped, but when you put the pieces in place and look at the mirror, you’ll see something more recognisable.
You’ve probably noticed stretched or anamorphic images on bike paths or football fields, but did you realise that anamorphic images have been around for several hundred years?
Can you keep a secret using a mirror?
Anamorphic images were first used in artworks several hundred years ago. Then they were adapted to contain political messages and risqué images which could only be viewed if you had the correct mirror.
Today, anamorphic advertising on football fields is painted onto the grass, so when it is viewed from the television camera angle, the writing almost appears to stand upright.
Similarly, footpath chalk paintings sometimes use anamorphic techniques to create the illusion of a crevasse or a swimming pool in the middle of a footpath for people who are viewing it from a distance.