BI-STABILITY — The Animated 3D Bistable Cone Illusion for Stereo 3D Viewing

Step into a hypnotic realm where perception turns inside out. Designed for true stereoscopic 3D viewing, this animated bistable phenomenon challenges your visual cortex to reconcile impossible dimensional geometry in real time.

A mind in conscious oscillation

It is a cone your brain simply cannot decide upon: is it thrusting outward into your space, or retreating deep into the dark?

In flat cinema, the bistable illusion is a trick of the mind. In true OWL stereo, it becomes a physical event. Viewed stereoscopically, that decision unfolds in tangible 3D depth directly before your eyes. The form does not merely switch orientation on a flat screen; it physically snaps and inverts, allowing you to sense your mind actively doing the perceptual labour.

This is bi-stability — the beautiful moment where seeing becomes conscious. You are not watching the cone. You are watching yourself see the cone.

STEREOTOMY (3'15") — The centrepiece

Our latest study, STEREOTOMY, is a 3 minute 15 second meditation on that oscillation. A single, mandala-like cone suspended in void, slowly breathing in void-light. For three minutes it holds, thrusting and retreating. Then at 3:15 — the pan out. The geometry exhales. Depth itself expands and the illusion is revealed as architecture.

Rendered originally as a 2048² dome master in Northampton, STEREOTOMY has now been calibrated to true-parallax OWL stereo — 4096x2048 side-by-side — with a 9px stereo divergence crafted specifically for Sir Brian May's OWL viewer. No anaglyph. No glasses ghosting. Just pure volumetric relief.

The dome and OWL stereo experience

Observed in Sir Brian May's stereoscopic OWL viewer or projected within our Northampton immersive dome, you sit isolated with the mandala floating at arm's length. Cones pop out into tactile relief, then vanish inwards as depth itself seems to inhale and exhale.

Accompanied by original contemplative soundscapes, the experience is profoundly meditative, disorienting, and beautifully personal. Each viewer reports a different rhythm — some see outward thrust for minutes, others flicker every few seconds. Your bi-stability is your own.

Stereoscopic releases and animated editions

Created by artist Kris Manalien, our complete sequence of animated bistable works is calibrated specifically for stereoscopic viewers like the Brian May OWL VR viewer.

STEREOTOMY and the wider BI-STABILITY collection are available as stereo-ready home editions and full dome licenses through The Hypnagogic Laser Dream Dome Unlimited Company, bringing true volumetric visual poetry straight into your hands — and your OWL.

For OWL owners, dome operators, and collectors of stereoscopic art — enquire below for the 4096x2048 SBS true stereo master and exhibition license.

The bistable cone illusion in stereo 3D