Week Two: At the Intersection of Art and Mathematics

This week introduced the concepts of mathematics and art as fundamentally intertwined in the representation of an eternal relationship between numbers, nature, and human identity. This is a relationship that, although explored in numerous contexts in popular culture and media today, has not been fully recognized or appreciated by our educational system and society. Through the historical analysis of the role of mathematics in the development of art, and the symbiotic relationship between the two in modern thought, Professor Vesna sheds light on how these two concepts are far from mutually exclusive, and in fact contribute to a greater understanding of one another when studied in tandem.

The above mathematically intricate representation of prehistoric life  literally
"breathes life" (in the words of Mark Maynard) into an organism
 unobserved in recorded history.

This understanding was supplemented by the visual and textual materials presented by the course. Among the most influential was Theo Jansen’s physical representation of organic beach life in his “Creatures on the Beach”. His representations of organisms through mathematically composed sculptures shows the intersection of mathematical ratios and artistic representations addressed by professor Vesna in her lecture. This artwork - and the TED presentation introducing it -really helped me to grasp the concepts covered this week. Concurrently displaying this kind of fractal representation, the website “Distractify” portrays examples of natural fractal phenomenon in a way that raises awareness of the mathematical mechanisms behind seemingly random designs found in life.

The same patterns that have inspired artists from around the world for centuries can also
be found in nature, as shown by this Aloe bloom. 

Of course, this lesson extends beyond that of artistic and organic representations. The use of fractal patterns in the interpretation of social and economic phenomenon has captured the imagination of investors and movie producers alike, inspiring investigation into how the same mathematical phenomenon that has informed artistic representations for centuries may also be found in the marketplace. This is the subject of “Fibonacci, Fractals, and Financial Markets” and a theme in the movie “Pi”, long one of my favorite Sci-Fi films. In both we can see the intersection of normally separated aspects of modern life: art, mathematics, society, and economy. This week’s lesson has broadened my understanding of how these phenomenon intersect, and I look forward to continue our exploration of science and art in the weeks to come.

Although potentially not as visually pleasing as other representations,
patterns in the marketplace can also be seen as "socio-economic fractals"
denoting human behavior's conformity to strong mathematic relationships.

Works Cited

"Creatures on the Beach: Theo Jansen on TED.com." TED Blog Creatures on the Beach Theo Jansen OnTEDcom Comments. N.p., 06 Sept. 2007. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.

"Fibonacci, Fractals and Financial Markets - Socionomics.net." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

"Fractals — Time." Dynamic Hedge RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

"I Always Thought Nature Was Random. Then I Looked Closer, And Now I See This Secret Pattern Everywhere..." Distractify. Matimatica Multimedia Co., 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Pi. By Darren Aronofsky. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Protozoa Pictures, Inc., 1998.

"Theo Jansen." Mark Maynard. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Van Rooey, Peter. "African Fractals." African Fractals. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.