Mathemalchemy: Art and Math Converge in New Show at 808 Gallery
Mathemalchemy: Art and Math Converge in New Show at 808 Gallery
Two dozen artistic mathematicians and mathematical artists celebrate the fun, creativity, and beauty in math
This article was first published in BU Today on February 16, 2023. By Sophie Yarin. Photos by Cydney Scott
Excerpt
Welcome to the magical mathematical world of Mathemalchemy.
The question behind the new exhibition on view at the 808 Gallery through March 4 isn’t how math influences art.
If you can picture the tessellated ceiling of an antique mosque, a meticulously counterbalanced classical sculpture, or Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, then you’re already somewhat familiar with the concept.
The question is how art influences math.
Mathemalchemy is the brainchild of 24 people from across North America, all existing “somewhere on this spectrum from mathematician to artist,” according to collaborator Li-Mei Lim, a research professor of number theory at the College of Arts & Sciences.
The sum total of their efforts is a sprawling, panoramic exploration of mathematical concepts using various media, including fiber arts, ceramics, wood- and metalwork, origami, 3D-printed material, and more. Unrepentantly geeky, and earnest to a fault, Mathemalchemy’s ultimate goal is “to show people that math is all around them.”
“As I worked on this, I found myself asking, how do I take something that I think is really exciting and make it more engaging for other people? How do I present it in a way that other people will understand?” Lim says.
The answer becomes obvious as you move through the exhibition. In an area designated as “the garden,” ceramic squirrels search for prime numbers, while three-dimensional polyhedra (in this case, origami flowers) grow around them. In another area, Zeno’s Paradoxes (philosophical problems that state that a moving object on a course may never reach its destination, as the course can be divided into infinite halfway points)are demonstrated by an ever-shrinking garden path, which snakes past a geometry-themed bakery, where a ceramic kitty named Arnold (after Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold) holds a tray of pi-shaped cookies. Look east of Zeno’s path, toward the mountains, and get a lesson in vertical and horizontal integrals, look south toward the bay and see how the knitted starfish demonstrate five-point radial symmetry.
“We were trying to be really intentional about not just including a Fibonacci spiral [the visual representation of a sequence of integers where each number is the sum of the previous two] and calling it ‘mathematical,’” Lim says. “We’re trying to take the math and make it meaningful to the story we’re trying to tell.”
The BU mathematician became involved in creating the show after seeing a presentation by founding members Dominique Ehrmann and Ingrid Daubechies at the 2020 Denver Joint Mathematics Meetings, the world’s largest mathematics gathering. There, Ehrmann, a fiber artist from Canada, and Daubechies, a mathematics professor at Duke, presented their idea for an installation piece that would use art to “celebrat[e] the fun, beauty and creativity in mathematics.” The pair recruited 11 initial volunteers, including Lim, and just like that, the newly minted Mathemalchemists began their journey.
Lim says that Mathemalchemy uses two methods to demonstrate a principle. The first is to embed math into the creation of an object, as with the crocheted flowers found throughout the landscape. “One of the principles of hyperbolic surfaces is exponential growth, and crochet is a really good medium to show this,” she says. “If you crochet in circles, in each subsequent round you could double the number of stitches by putting two stitches into each stitch from the previous round. What you’ll end up with is this beautiful, ruffly object.”
The other method is to create a figurative representation of the concept, like having a team of squirrels sort prime and composite numbers.
Hidden details abound in Mathemalchemy. Every available surface is fair game for a mathematical reference—or two, or three. The mathematicians among the project’s collaborators span a variety of disciplines, and according to Lim, there’s no way that a single person could catch every single allusion—hidden or otherwise—that’s been jam-packed into the installation.
Mathemalchemy is on view at the 808 Gallery, 808 Commonwealth Ave., through March 4. The gallery is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. Find more information about the installation here.