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By the 16th century, European painters had become masterful at crafting illusions of perspective, giving viewers an impression of lifelike, three-dimensional depth on flat surfaces. Building on this well of Renaissance knowledge, a small handful of artists began pushing linear perspective further still, crafting works that required the viewer to occupy a single vantage point – or series of vantage points – in order to be fully understood. Today, this sort of visual illusion, known as anamorphosis, is responsible for viral internet phenomena such as the 3D street paintings of the Rome-based artist Kurt Wenner. At its inception, however, the technique was used to both provocative and whimsical effect, often adding subversive new meanings to works once revealed. In this short film, the celebrated US animation team Stephen and Timothy Quay, better known as ‘the Brothers Quay’, evoke a dark fairytale with their exploration of the technique, which combines stop-motion puppetry with some notable examples of anamorphosis from the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes
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Archaeology
What did the first people who entered Tutankhamun’s tomb see?
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Information and communication
Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news
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Childhood and adolescence
Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress
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Meaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
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Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
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History
There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes