Advertise here with Carbon Ads

This site is made possible by member support. โค๏ธ

Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.

When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!

kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.

๐Ÿ”  ๐Ÿ’€  ๐Ÿ“ธ  ๐Ÿ˜ญ  ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ  ๐Ÿค   ๐ŸŽฌ  ๐Ÿฅ”

kottke.org posts about pareidolia

Household Surrealism by Helga Stentzel

an orange blanket and a book arranged on a sofa to look like a fox

two windows and some hanging laundry that look like a face

two washing machines and socks hanging on a laundry basket that look like a face

Often using the phenomenon of pareidolia, Helga Stentzel arranges common household items to resemble faces, animals, and other fun characters. You can find prints of some of her creations on her website.


Hungry helicopter eats delicious soldiers

Hungry Helicopter

Scheming boxes and this hungry helicopter are neck and neck for the greatest example of pareidolia (aka faces in things).


Scheming boxes

Scheming Boxes

Photo by @blawndee. This might be the best instance of pareidolia I’ve ever seen.


Pareidolia: “The erroneous or fanciful perception of

Pareidolia: “The erroneous or fanciful perception of a pattern or meaning in something that is actually ambiguous or random.” Here are hundreds of examples on Flickr…light sockets that look like faces, etc.