I first became aware of the concept of 'infinity' and the 'Droste Effect' at an early age. I never really thought much about it or about what it meant. (One of my school mates had a Sesame Street lunchbox, and on the lunchbox was an image of a the characters in a classroom with a lunchbox on a desk, and the lunchbox featured the picture on the lunchbox, and another picture featuring the same picture, stretching into infinity.) I managed to find an example of the image and posted it below.
I became more aware of this concept about five years later, when I was probably about ten years of age. The animated film The Mouse and His Child, based on the book by Russell Hoban, was on television. For a children's film, I'd consider it to be pretty dark, and I suppose that is why the film has stuck with me all of these years.
A theme throughout the film was about the concept of infinity, and this was represented through a dog food can label (known as Bonzo Dog Food). The dog food label showed a picture of a dog with the dog food, which contains a label of the dog food, stretching into infinity. When asked how many images of the dog there were, also referred to The Last Visible Dog, the child mouse managed to look beyond and saw himself (in the reflection of the can). Other concepts throughout the film touch on the concept, such as the wind-up toy mice as walking in circles (until the wind-up key finishes, of course) and their fortune being told by a frog that the enemy they met in the beginning will be at the end of their journey - full circle.
The dog food label stuck in my mind for many years, and judging by searching the web and viewing comments from other viewers, this made an impact on nearly everyone who had seen the animation.
This concept is also commonly known as the "Droste effect" or mise en abyme. The "Droste effect" was coined after the effect used on branding by a Dutch cocoa brand Droste in the early 1900s. The package contained a picture of a nurse holding a package of the product, which contained the package of the nurse, stretching into infinity. The effect was used in a Pink Floyd album, and it is also used in Land O Lakes (below) butter packaging, and the concept was used in many works of art by Escher.
The effect is also known by the French term, "mise en abyme", and was used in artwork, medieval illustrations (religious artwork and illustrations) and also in the Shakespeare play, Hamlet, with the idea of a "play within a play".
(Note: Images sourced by product designs and illustrations found on the Internet; unable to provide a source for these, but the copyrights would be owned by the Sesame Street and Land 'o' Lakes brands. The last illustration from The Mouse and His Child is from http://delphine-angua.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-last-visible-dog-what-is-it-for_25.html)
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