Story:
Video shows a never ending ‘Escherian Stairwell’ constructed in building 7 of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Fact Check:
Circulating videos show a never ending ‘Escherian Stairwell’ which loops back into itself, claimed to have been constructed in building 7 of the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Although the video looks real, and is claimed to be the result of a ‘flat’ architectural marvel, it is not a fact.
The claims in the video defy the basic logic and also the laws of physics. So, the video is not real. Michael Lacanilao, a film and animation graduate student at RIT made it as a part of annual Imagine RIT program, an innovation and creativity festival. This project trying to build a modern myth was even a campaign on Kickstarter, a platform to fund creative projects, but could not reach the expected goal and failed to be funded.
Facts about Never Ending Escherian Stairwell Concept
The project was inspired by M. C. Escher, which is why the name Escherian Stairwell. The Dutch graphic artist is in fact known for his mathematically inspired impossible constructions.
Ascending and Descending is one of Escher’s art work depicting a large building roofed by a never-ending staircase, where lines of people ascend and descend the stairs in an infinite loop. Refer to the picture below. The video above is the Kickstarter promotional video. Likewise, Lacanilao explains about his creative project of building a modern myth – the Escherian Stairwell.
Ascending and Descending, one of Escher’s art work
Therefore, the never ending Escherian Stairwell is just a hoax creation, a creative imaginary project to present the modern myth as an art form. It is the result of clever editing, using deceptive camera angles to give us that illusion of looping back stairwell. Development of this illusion is in fact based on perception and perspective.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
References:
Search for the Escherian Stairwell at Imagine RIT
The Stairwell Project: Building a Modern Myth
M. C. Escher
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