Mathematics is the foundation of activities such as knitting, stitching, measuring and cutting that are crucial to crafting and fabrication
The exhibition "Beauty is the First Test" runs form 27 April - 30 June 2013 at The National Centre for Craft & Design, Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34, UK.
"The group show explores how mathematical concepts underpin craft techniques, aiming to 'demystify a subject that intimates both adults and children', according to the centre. The exhibition demonstrates how mathematics is the foundation of activities such as knitting, stitching, measuring and cutting that are crucial to crafting and fabrication. Showcasing works in disciplines including textiles and sculpture, the show will feature work from artists including Michael Brennand-Wood, Janice Gunner, Lucy McMullen and Ann Sutton.
Alongside the visual proof that maths can indeed be fun - and pretty - the exhibition also presents case studies of five makers, including Gail Baxter and Margo Selby, exploring how the development of their work was furthered by an understanding and appreciation of mathematics."
(Emily Gosling, 27 March 2013, Design Week)
Fig.1 Janette Matthews, "Optical Ellipse". Fig.2 Ann Sutton, "Four Ways from a Square", 2009.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
LaTeX: programmable desktop publishing
"LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.
LaTeX is not a word processor! Instead, LaTeX encourages authors not to worry too much about the appearance of their documents but to concentrate on getting the right content. ...
LaTeX is based on the idea that it is better to leave document design to document designers, and to let authors get on with writing documents. ...
LaTeX is based on Donald E. Knuth's TeX typesetting language or certain extensions. LaTeX was first developed in 1985 by Leslie Lamport, and is now being maintained and developed by the LaTeX3 Project."
(LaTeX3 Project)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Boundary Functions: personal space exists only in relation to others and changes without our control
"Boundary Functions shows us that personal space exists only in relation to others and changes without our control. ...
By projecting the diagram, the invisible relationships between individuals and the space between them become visible and dynamic. The intangible notion of personal space and the line that always exists between you and another becomes concrete. The installation doesn't function at all with one person, as it requires a physical relationship to someone else. In this way Boundary Functions is a reversal of the lonely self-reflection of virtual reality, or the frustration of virtual communities: here is a virtual space that can only exist with more than one person, and in physical space.
The title, Boundary Functions, refers to Theodore Kaczynski's 1967 University of Michigan PhD thesis. Better known as the Unabomber, Kaczynski is a pathological example of the conflict between the individual and society: engaging with an imperfect world versus an individual solitude uncompromised by the presence of others. The thesis itself is an example of the implicit antisocial quality of some scientific discourse, mired in language and symbols that are impenetrable to the vast majority of society. In this installation, a mathematical abstraction is made instantly knowable by dynamic visual representation."
(Scott Snibbe, 1998)
Fig.1 Scott Snibbe (1998). "Boundary Functions".
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Rob Bryanton: Imagining the 10th Dimension
"Since the extra dimensions beyond spacetime that physicists talk about are all spatial dimensions (or 'space-like' as some prefer to say), thinking about how the simplest spatial dimensions relate one to another gives us tools for imagining the more complex ones. The key to remember with all this is that each additional spatial dimension is at 'right angles' to the one before: so each new dimension allows an observer to see 'around the corner' in a way that was unattainable from the previous dimension. This time, let's work through the dimensions with that idea in mind."
(Rob Bryanton, October 2009)
Rob Bryanton (2006). "Imagining the Tenth Dimension: A New Way of Thinking About Time and Space", Trafford Publishing.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Anne Spalter: Traffic Circle
New York debut of Anne Morgan Spalter
@ Stephan Stoyano/LuxeGallery
November 29, 2011- January 6, 2012
"Stephan Stoyanov/Luxe Gallery is pleased to announce the inaugural New York City solo show of Anne Morgan Spalter, a new-media pioneer who initiated and taught the first fine arts new media courses at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1990 and Brown University in 1992. Spalter’s exhibition, Traffic Circle, is a milestone in her two-decade odyssey in integrating art and technology. Spalter draws on centuries of work in the landscape genre but brings a new perspective on the modern landscape.
With works created exclusively for this exhibition, Spalter introduces geometrically patterned video works generated from footage she shoots in traffic, from aerial perches, at airports, and on the highway. Several pieces feature iconic New York City landmarks such as Rockefeller Center. The rhythmically structured compositions isolate or abstract features and motion of the landscape, highlighting the passage of taxis down 5th Avenue, for example, and the soaring of planes on takeoff. Inspired by her mathematical background and interest in Islamic art, she uses a symmetrical kaleidoscopic framework to brings order to complexity.
Spalter’s art has explored the concept of the 'modern landscape' since first shown publicly at the deCordova Museum in 1992. She draws on her travels and her digital photographic and video database to create still and moving pieces. Works are realized as prints, intimate screen-based works, and large-scale screen and projection works: her work was shown this past summer at Big Screen Plaza’s 30-foot LCD screen in New York City as part of Leaders in Software Art (LISA) and at the RISD Museum of Art’s Open Call Video Art Screening Program."
(Anne Morgan Spalter)
5). Exhibition Press Release.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
