Fractal temple

In this raytraced image by unknown author we can see a strange sea temple. The temple consists of many similar platforms of various sizes. Every platform stands on four squared columns. The main cupola of the temple stands on platform which in one's turn stands on four platforms raised from water. There are four platforms smaller size on every of these main platforms with cupolas smaller size. Also, there are four platforms even smaller size on these small platforms and so on. This is a fractal temple with infinite count of cupolas!

Update 08.02.2009

Thanks to Greg M. Johnson, now I know who is the author of this image. His name is Christoph Hormann. The original image can be found at http://www.imagico.de/pov/gallery3_g.html.

Printgallery

M.C. Escher "Printgallery" (1956)

Printgallery is one of the most fascinating image of M.C. Escher. We see a young man which stands before print on the wall in print gallery. We see ships and seaside town with many houses on it. One house is closer to us than others and there's print gallery on the first floor. Then we look through the window of the print gallery and see young man looking at print. So we returned to beginning. It's a looped image, and we can infinitely look on it and never find the end.

But artist leaved center of the image empty and placed his sign there. What is under this blank spot? We don't know if Escher knew it. In 2002 this puzzle was solved and it's proved that reduced and rotated copy of the source image should be behind the spot.

Escher's "Curl-up" in paper

Tomohiro TACHI

This is origami version of M.C. Escher's lithograph "Curl-up" (1951). Author created four copies of a strange creature which turns into roller and sweeps away. In comparison, you can see original lithograph image at top right.

Metal sculpture by Kenneth Snelson

Kenneth Snelson creates his airy sculptures from metal. His structures are not hard joined but exist due to tension of individual elements. A term tensegrity was suggested structures of this type as combination of two words tension and integrity. Kenneth Snelson describes tensegrity as "a closed structural system composed of a set of three or more elongate compression struts within a network of tension tendons, the combined parts mutually supportive in such a way that the struts do not touch one another, but press outwardly against nodal points in the tension network to form a firm, triangulated, prestressed, tension and compression unit."

Cutting a wire in a tensegrity structure causes a major deformation or collapse.

Using principle of tensegrity he created many towers and other sculptures from aluminium and steel. You can see two photos of 60 feet high sculpture "Needle Tower" which was created in 1968. To the right is the front view of the tower and below is view from the basis of the tower.

Kenneth Snelson was born in Pendleton (Oregon, USA) in 1927. Educated in University of Oregon and Chicago Institute of Design. He had took part in many personal and grouped shows. His sculptures are in many collections and museums.

A reptile from Escher's artwork

A very interesting object was found at Google Maps near Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. It represents a single reptile from Escher's artwork "Smaller and smaller" (1956). Below you can see the original Escher's artwork and part of it with reptile in similar position.

This artwork is an artistic illustration of hyperbolic space. Due to properties of such kind of hyperbolic space you can infinitely go towards the center of the square but never reach it. Also Escher illustrated hyperbolic space in his artworks "Snakes", "Circle limit IV" etc.