Editing Crop circle (section)

== Art and business ==

After reports of simple circles in the 1970s, increasingly complex geometric designs have been created by anonymous artists, in some cases to attract tourists to an area.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/ |title=Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax |newspaper=Smithsonian |first1=Rob |last1=Irving |first2=Peter |last2=Brookesmith |date=15 December 2009 |access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref>

Since the early 1990s, the UK arts collective Circlemakers, founded by [[Rod Dickinson]] and [[John Lundberg]], and subsequently including Wil Russell and Rob Irving, has been creating crop circles in the UK and around the world as part of its art practice and also for commercial clients.<ref>{{cite book |author= Henry Hemming |year= 2009 |title= In Search of the English Eccentric |publisher= John Murray |isbn= 978-0719522123}}</ref>

The [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set]] that was released on 7 September 1990, along with the [[Led Zeppelin Remasters|remasters of the first boxed set]], as well as the [[Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2|second boxed set]], all feature an image of a crop circle that appeared in East Field in [[Alton Barnes]], [[Wiltshire]].

[[File:Aerial View of the Crop Circle in Diessenhofen 15.07.2008 16-44-41.JPG|thumb|right|Aerial view of a crop circle in [[Diessenhofen]]]]

On the night of 11–12 July 1992, a crop-circle-making competition with a prize of [[Pound sterling|£]]3,000<ref>{{cite book|title=Crop Circles|author=Andrea Pelleschi|publisher=Essential Library/ABDO|year=2012|page=73}}</ref> (funded in part by the [[Arthur Koestler]] Foundation) was held in [[Berkshire]]. The winning entry was produced by three [[Westland Helicopters]] engineers, using rope, [[Polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] pipe, a plank, string, a telescopic device and two stepladders.<ref>{{cite news |author= David Jenkins |title= Crop circle conundrum |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100826234201/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 26 August 2010 |access-date= 10 August 2012 |newspaper= [[The Daily Telegraph]] |date= 25 August 2010}}</ref> According to Rupert Sheldrake, the competition was organised by him and John Michell and "co-sponsored by The Guardian and The Cerealogist". The prize money came from ''PM'', a German magazine. Sheldrake wrote that "The experiment was conclusive. Humans could indeed make all the features of state-of-the-art crop formations at that time. Eleven of the twelve teams made more or less impressive formations that followed the set design."<ref>{{cite web |author= Rupert Sheldrake |title= The Crop Circle Making Competition |url= http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/articles/pdf/Cropcircles_Michellany.pdf |publisher= Rupert Sheldrake |access-date= 10 August 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121207041147/http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles%26Papers/articles/pdf/Cropcircles_Michellany.pdf |archive-date= 7 December 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2002, [[Discovery Channel]] commissioned five aeronautics and astronautics graduate students from [[MIT]] to create crop circles of their own, aiming to duplicate some of the features claimed to distinguish "real" crop circles from the known fakes such as those created by Bower and Chorley. The creation of the circle was recorded and used in the Discovery Channel documentary ''Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields''.<ref name=discovery1>{{cite AV media |title= Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields |publisher= Discovery Channel |date= 2002-10-10}}</ref>

In 2009, ''The Guardian'' reported that crop circle activity had been waning around Wiltshire, in part because makers preferred creating promotional crop circles for companies that paid well for their efforts.<ref name="vidal guardian"/>

A video sequence used in connection with the opening of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] in London showed two crop circles in the shape of the [[Olympic symbols|Olympic rings]]. Another Olympic crop circle was visible to passengers landing at nearby [[Heathrow Airport]] before and during the Games.<ref name="olympic">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnclarke/2012/07/09/mystery-crop-circles-revealed-as-olympic-publicity-stunt/|title=Mystery Crop Circles Revealed As Olympic Publicity Stunt|last=Clarke|first=John|date=July 9, 2012|magazine=[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]|access-date=July 29, 2015}}</ref>

A {{convert|3|ha|acre|0|abbr=on}} crop circle depicting the emblem of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Rebel Alliance]] was created in California in December 2017 by a father and his 11-year-old son as a [[spaceport]] for [[X-wing fighter]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abc7news.com/entertainment/bay-area-father-son-turn-field-into-star-wars-tribute/2778451/|title=Bay Area father, son turn field into 'Star Wars' tribute|date=13 December 2017|work=KGO-TV|access-date=4 January 2018|publisher=ABC7 News}}</ref>