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The Aldbourne formation is
similar to the Vertigo record label logo. Comments by Fervidus and Bob
Vernon.
This Page
has been accessed
Updated Monday 24th July 2006 |
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3D crop circles and Marcel Duchamp's Rotoreliefs.
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After sending my last email(s) I began to wonder if
my memories of the Vertigo record labels were indeed correct (it was
the 60s after all, and you know what they say about remembering the
60s), so I Googled "Vertigo records" to try to find some pictorial
proof. Well, to the limited extent that I looked, I couldn't find any
image of the famous "swirl" pattern covering the entire label of an LP,
as I described being the case in my email, but I did find indirect
proof that my memory was correct here:
http://www.collectable-records.ru/labels/O_Z/Vertigo/1.htm |
As you can see, not only is the logo bigger (than
the example on your site) on the label of this LP by Colosseum (which,
incidentally, I know that I owned in the 60s), but the side of the LP
shown (side B) has the list of tracks for both sides, which can only be
because the label on the other side (side A) was completely covered
with the "swirl" pattern, just as I remembered.
Anyway, I am now content to rest my case that this
pattern was originally meant to be viewed in rotation (although it has
to be admitted that, for some reason, when translated to the form of a
crop circle, it looks remarkably 3-dimensional even without rotation),
and is, in fact, an example of a stereo kinetic optical illusion that
has absolutely nothing to do with wormholes.
LINK
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I am just writing to suggest that people are
possibly getting too carried away with the idea of wormholes in
relation to the 3D crop circles that have appeared this year. I think
it is far more likely that they are simply a continuation of the
optical illusion theme that included the Escher triangle crop circle
last year. Before seeing on your site today the connection made
between the recent New Barn crop circle and the Vertigo record logo, I
had, in fact, already made the same connection with the Avebury Trusloe
circle in June. Although I am old enough to have actually possessed
such records, I could not remember the precise pattern of the logo, and
so I got it wrong in assuming that that of the Avebury Trusloe circle
was exactly the same (apart, obviously, from the mirroring in the crop
circle). What I could remember, however, was that the Vertigo pattern,
at least on early LPs, was not just, as suggested on your site and in
Wikipedia, a small logo, but rather took up the space of the whole
label on one or both sides of the LP.
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The idea behind this was that you were supposed to
watch the pattern on the label as the record rotated on the turntable
(preferably while stoned) in order to enhance both the 3D and trance
inducing effects - hence the significance of the name of the label,
Vertigo. I also remembered learning at the time that the pattern was
derived directly from the work of the artist Marcel Duchamp - i.e.
specifically, his "Rotoreliefs". And that is why I am writing really,
because the Rotoreliefs and the Vertigo pattern were examples of the
type of optical illusion called stereokinetics in which certain
2-dimensional patterns can be made to appear 3-dimensional when
appropriate movement is applied to them. Therefore, inasmuch as the
design of these 3D crop circles all appear to be derived from the
Vertigo pattern (the New Barn one, in fact, being identical), I would
suggest that those who are reading references to wormholes in them are
fancifully barking up the wrong tree.
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Some illustrative references are:
Also, out of curiosity, I made an animated gif image of what the Avebury
Trusloe circle would look like if rotated on a turntable. (Obviously, the
New Barn circle would now make a better candidate for this treatment, but I
haven't got time to do it at the moment - if someone else wants to have a go,
that's fine by me.) I include this as an attachment with this email, but I
am having problems sending images at the moment (it's a complicated story),
so, if you don't receive the image, you can also get it from:
You have my permission to use the information in this email (including the
gif) however you please.
Bob Vernon |
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