Art as Visual Research: 12 Examples of Kinetic Illusions in Op Art
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Combination of the Rotating-Tilted-Lines and Enigma Gori and Hamburger's combination of the Rotating-Tilted-Lines and the Enigma illusion is both visually arresting and a powerful demonstration of illusory motion from a static pattern. The Enigma illusion, almost three decades after its creation in 1981 by Leviant, continues to inspire visual science as well the visual arts. ..
The Rotating-Tilted-Lines illusion Artist Miwa Miwa's variant of the Rotating-Tilted-Lines illusion pays homage to "Vertigo," the classic film by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Rotating-Tilted-Lines illusion The Rotating-Tilted-Lines Illusion, by vision scientists Simone Gori and Kai Hamburger, then at the University of Freiburg in Germany, is a novel variation of the Enigma effect and Bridget Riley's Blaze... The image is courtesy of Simone Gori.
More of Kitaoka's Op Art Hatpin Urchin, by Kitaoka, dramatically demonstrates the importance of eye movements in the perception of this kinetic illusion.
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The Ouchi Illusion This illusion is a contemporary variation on the Ouchi pattern, by Kitaoka.
The Ouchi Illusion This illusion is by op artist Hajime Ouchi. Move your head back and forth as you let your eyes wander around the image and notice how the circle and its background appear to shift independently of one another...
Bridget Riley's Motion Illusions Most of the motion illusions featured in this slide show are potentially triggered by eye movements, both large and small. This pattern, by op artist Bridget Riley, gives the impression of fast spiraling motion as observers move their eyes around the image...
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Enigmatic Eye Look at the center of the pupil and you will see the surrounding purple rings fill with rapid illusory motion. Neuroscientist and engineer Jorge Otero-Millan's tribute to Leviant features the illusory motion seen in Enigma, and it also reflects the role of eye movements in the perception of the illusion...
Op Art Is Alive and Well Vision scientist Akiyoshi Kitaoka at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, follows on the footsteps of the great op artists of some decades ago. Waterway Spirals is a compelling and powerful version of Leviant's Enigma... Courtesy of Akiyoshi Kitaoka
The Enigma Illusion Op artist Isia Leviant unknowingly combined the MacKay Rays and the BBC wallboard illusion in the now classic Enigma illusion. Several original Leviant paintings illustrating this effect hang in the San Francisco Exploratorium, including its very first version (known as the Traffic Illusion)... The image is courtesy of Jorge Otero-Millan
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BBC Wallboard This illusion has its origin as a chance observation. MacKay first observed this effect on the wallboard of a BBC studio: the broadcasting staff had been annoyed by illusory shadows running up and down blank strips between columns of parallel lines...
MacKay Rays This illusion, created in 1957 by neuroscientist Donald M. MacKay (then at King's College London in England), shows that simple patterns of regular or repetitive stimuli, such as radial lines (called "MacKay rays") can induce the perception of shimmering or illusory motion at right angles to those of the pattern...
