A stack of reality bending boxes crowned with an object steeped in history is the focus of architects' Cyril Rheims and Mathieu Collos Invitation to Levitation installation for the 7th edition of the Festival des Architectures Vives.

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Known as the Lively Architectures Festival in english, it's held in Montpellier, France in June. The seventh edition was on the theme of surprise and featured works by 10 international teams "revealing an intimate relation between contemporary architecture and patrimonial site" say the festival organizers.

For Invitation to Levitation, visitors entered the courtyard of a mansion where they are confronted with a floating object "steeped in history closely related to the architectural style" of the architecture that surrounds it.

As the visitor circles the installation, "suddenly the frame itself is fractured with deconstructed architectural elements" and the viewer discovers the illusion.

The stack of different sized boxes are in fact covered with anamorphic pictures, a principle of image distortion that can make the structure invisible when viewed from a specific angle.

+ festivaldesarchitecturesvives.com