In the eye of the beholder

May Meyerson

Mentor: Liora Rosin

Have you ever gazed at the sky, the shower curtain, or the floor and suddenly recognized the shape of an animal or a face staring back at you? Like all living things, humans have a natural urge to identify patterns and assign meaning to them. This phenomenon, in which we perceive vague and ambiguous stimuli as familiar and meaningful, is called “pareidolia” and reflects our innate tendency to find order, even in chaos.

This intriguing phenomenon drove me to explore the deeper reasons for our ability to recognize patterns everywhere. The human need to assign meaning stems from basic survival instincts as well as the desire to build social connections. Whether it is identifying predators in the forest, locating food sources, or searching for our place in the world, the ability to detect patterns has always been a key tool in how we interpret our surroundings.

By studying pareidolia and harnessing our natural tendency to see connections and patterns, even when they do not truly exist, I designed a toolkit that invites users to experience this phenomenon through exploration, play, and discovery. This toolkit serves as a creative instrument for examining and interpreting one’s environment.