On Friday 4th February, Hirst Class worked with teachers from Dreamachine , who delivered creative science lessons exploring the power of the brain with perception and illusion. Children engaged with different activities to discuss questions such as:
‘How do I see the world around me?’
‘How do others see the world?’
‘How are we all connected?’
Children explored optical illusions, more appropriately known as visual illusions, involving visual deception. Due to the arrangement of images, the effect of colours, the impact of the light source, or other variables, a wide range of misleading visual effects can be seen. Activities included exploring perception with photography and the Kanizsa Triangle illusion.
According to the Gestalt law of closure, we tend to see objects that are close together as a related group. In the case of the Kanizsa Triangle, we even see contour lines that don’t exist and ignore gaps in order to form a cohesive image.
Hirst Class then used Ipads to explore how photography can be used to change our perception:
Have a go at home. What images can you create that skew our sense of perception?