To do so, he created Bâtiment, a massive building facade planted firmly on the ground with a giant mirror sitting at a 90 degree angle from the bottom of the building.

The end result is a building that people can not only climb, sit or stand on, but one where they can watch themselves do these things.

Of course, just as amusing as the artwork itself is seeing the reactions of the people interacting with it. While some people admire their superhero selves, others try to set up more realistic scenes where they dangle from the windows. Even as dozens of people play on the building, others stride briskly over it without ever looking up, apparently uninterested in how they look walking across the side of a building.

The exhibit where the installation was shown has been over since March, so it will be interesting to see if Erlich will end up setting up his creation somewhere else or if that was the only place and time people could interact with the piece.

That’s because the artist’s aptly named Black Line Chair is made from nothing but black metal rods arranged to look like a nothing but a series of lines when viewed from the right angle.

Of course, even if you can see the chair, I wouldn’t recommend sitting on it, not only would Masayuki not be very happy if you sat on his artwork, it also seems rather uncomfortable no matter how you look at it.

That’s why this Steelwork Illusion created by Deskarati is simply so fascinating -the illusion is so subtle and the photo looks so real that your mind wants to accept that it is an unaltered photograph. That is, until your brain starts to follow the lines of the steel framework and you begin realizing more and more just how impossible this building design really is.

The poster for the film “127 hours” has a huge hour glass on it. The rock his hand is trapped under, possibly being a grain of sand, shows that his timing is ticking away – Allan

For example, remember how some of you complained that when we post animated gifs to the “Optical Illusion of The Day” widget, it takes too much CPU, and slows down the widget? I’ve fixed that. On the other hand, when we post optical illusion videos using our custom embedded player, they appear and work flawlessly, it’s just that they haven’t shown on the mobile version of this site, and our RSS feed omitted them. This should be past-tense as well :D

Another thing concerning the widgets… Yahoo decided to kill its dashboard platform, so our focus is now switching onto iGoogle, Mac and Windows gadgets. If you haven tried them, be sure to check them out and see which one suits your needs. They were built with an idea to provide you with endless illusions for the rest of (our) life. So, which one would be your choice?

For the illusion, I’v received this beautiful flamingo that took me a second before I realized what was going on around here. Like it?

Even with all his experience shooting water drops, Reugels still takes hours to complete each shoot because no mater how much practice and talent you have under your belt, capturing a water drop at the perfect moment still relies on luck more than anything else.

Fortunately, with a lot of time on his hand, a little luck and a world map, a simple photograph of a water droplet can easily become something more – easily taking on a deeper meaning, even preaching the importance of clean water to the health of our planet.

In Reugels workshop, even the moon, an object that we see on a regular basis, can suddenly become crystal-clear and even more stunning than it is while hovering above the night sky.

Of course, Reugels didn’t start off shooting water drops. He was originally a family portrait photographer, but three years ago he decided he wanted to try his hand at something more challenging -something he certainly managed well.

When it comes to his process, even Reugels admits that it is exceptionally difficult, “Sometimes I take 500 pictures and only a couple of them are really perfect in my opinion.”

As for how he does it, well, his set up is actually quite similar (albeit much more professional) to the photographer who created the M.C. Escher water drop image last year. With a handmade wooden rig that both holds the water dropper and the backdrop that will show up in the droplet, Reugels stands behind his camera, poised to get the perfect shot -even after multiple failures.

“There are so many factors who will influence the result – the viscosity of the water ,the height of the drops, the nozzle size even the temperature of the water,” he says.

As someone with little patience, I highly commend this wonderful photographer, not only for his ingenuity, but for the dedication it takes to shoot something that requires such precision. Mr. Reugels, my hat goes off to you.

It’s elementary, my dear Snow White

Just in case you need a little help, here are the answers – The top one, my personal favorite (and easiest to decipher), is Snow White with Sherlock Holmes. The second, that would be Little Red Riding Hood partnering with Moby Dick. That one took me a while because the whale is so weirdly shaped. Lastly, we have Harry Potter paired with a Trojan horse.

Aside from the clever imagery, the great thing about these ads is that they remind you that no matter what kind of fiction you enjoy, fantasy, mystery, fairy tales, contemporary, classics, or antiquities, you’re sure to find whatever you’re looking for, not just at the Colsubsidio Book Exchange, but any local library you happen to visit. And that’s something every book lover can appreciate.

But, wait a minute… we are on Mighty Optical Illusions blog! An ordinary picture of a caterpillar (no matter how cute it is), would just be weird here. Fortunately, this’s not a little baby butterfly, it’s actually a group of European Bee-eaters cuddling together on a small tree branch. The birds do look so much like a caterpillar though, that photographer José Luis Rodríguez named the image Oruga de Plumas, or “caterpillar of feathers.”

That’s why this design by Azerbaijan artist Rashad Alakbarov is simply so wonderful. The colored glass pieces block the light, using the same concept as shadow art, but the result is something so much more beautiful – an entire painting created with nothing more than a colored light.

Like other artists operating in this niche, Alakbarov has made his share of wonderful shadow installations as well.

Azerbaijan is a fairly small country that is not known for its fine art community, but Alakbarov is making quite a name for himself and may soon become an internationally renowned artist for his skillful installations.

While this is great news for the artist, it could also be huge for the country as a whole, inspiring children throughout the nation to realize that they too can become world-recognized artists if they just follow their dreams. Although the country has had a handful of successful artists come from within its borders, few Azerbaijani contemporary artists have emerged in recent years and every new notable artist from the country is worth celebrating.

For those of us who live in a large country, particularly in a massive city, this is something easy to take for granted, but the importance of role models in various industries is something that can’t be overstated.

While the rest of artist’s illusions are strong as well, I, for one hope, he makes more colored light illusions as they are something truly unique that will really help him stand out from the crowd. Not to mention, I just like looking at them and I hope you guys do too!

Since you are probably well aware of M.C. Escher and his work by now, you may jump straight to playing the film. But be sure to pay close attention, and see how many references to great mathematical problems, puzzles, and optical illusions we have featured in the past you can count. Each one of the objects found in this film has an interesting story behind it – for example, Seven Bridges of Königsberg is a historically notable problem in mathematics. Same goes for Wheats and Chessboard story, one that talks about invention of chess.

Then there is The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Da Vinci’s Self Supporting Bridge, etc… Let’s see how many great stories and puzzles can you find! Be sure to share your findings in the comments section below, as I’m more than eager to see which ones I might have missed! BTW this video has provided me with endless inspiration, specially when it comes to decorating my office in days to come ;)

“What things would surround an artist like him, so deeply interested in science in general and mathematics in particular.” – Cristóbal Vila

It is as if they were some sort of tiny feet going tip-tap-tip-tap… Right? The effect is even more pronounced if one does not look directly onto the feet.

Illusions such as this one truly have a remarkable character – after a while it becomes obvious what is really happening here (since they kindly provide us with time to study their secret, because of their continuously repeating animation), yet they still manage to fool us over and over again. As they repeatedly switch from normal to illusory state, the magic happens right in front of our eyes! I just hope you enjoyed today’s optical illusion as much as I did!

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about this artwork is the way his creations all seem to relate one to another. For example, his dog/cat/fish piece shows three pets known to harass one another. On the other hand, John’s man/woman/heart sculpture seems to depict the three things necessary to create a standard romance story. You may think of this as Shigeo Fukuda’s Encore art installation, except this one includes a third view!

While the gallery below features some of John Muntean’s most prominent creations, his website is definitely worth a visit – it allows you to play with one of his sculptures in virtual space.